----------------------------------------------------------
Jedi Ambassador I - In The Shadows
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A quick sum up of what happened before:

The Battle of Ithor has taken on a different turn as Luke uses all the
powers of a true Master of the Force to vanquish the enemy fleet. Reduced to
mere fractions of what their fleet once represented, the Yuuzhan Vong decide
their best course of action to rescue their people is to open up peace
negotiations with the New Republic. Leia returns as the head of state and
engages in talks.

While Luke is mentally and physically devastated after channeling this much
Force energy and a dispute between him and his beloved wife Mara, a member
of the Priest caste of the Yuuzhan Vong follows an agenda of her own.
Determined to rise in her people's hierarchy, she doesn't want to accept
defeat and wants to destroy the New Republic, presenting it as her own
victory before the Supreme Overlord. To further her plans and to meet her
fancy, she arranges for Luke to be abducted and subjected to a Yuuzhan Vong
shaping, thus hoping to not only eliminate the mightiest NR player but also
gain a new familiar for herself. With combined effort, our heroes and their
new allies, the Yuuzhan Vong under Tsavong Lah's leadership, manage to
thwart Elan's plans and free Luke. While the preparations for the peace
treaty are continuing, Mara and Luke retreat to Chandrila to help Luke work
through his trauma and to repair the damage that their relationship has
suffered during Mara's illness, which has now been healed.

As they return to the galaxy at large, the peace treaty is about to be
signed by Yuuzhan Vong Supreme Overlord Shimrra. However, saboteurs are
trying to prevent this from happening. Instigated by Mezhan Kwaad, the
Master Shaper who tortured Luke and tried moulding him into Priestess Elan's
familiar, the Jedi Master finds himself the key person in another scheme,
destined to put Mezhan Kwaad at the head of her caste and possibly even on
the throne of the Supreme Overlord. Fighting on her side is Luke's worst
foe ever - Liin Kwaad, a Yuuzhan Vong personality that she has implanted in
him while he was Elan's and her's captive. Eventually, both Liin Kwaad and
his creator, the Master Shaper, are vanquished and the peace treaty is
signed. Luke and his wife Mara expect their first son, Ben Skywalker and
eight months after the signing of the peace treaty the boy is born.

Have fun with the continuation,

*|Sienn|*

Rating (for chapter): PG-13
Protagonists: Luke/Mara
Category: Action
Time: 1 and a half years after "The Birth of Acceptance"

Spoilers:
"Vector Prime", "Dark Tide I: Onslaught", "Dark Tide II: Ruin", "Soul's
Trial" Part I to III

Series:
"Jedi Ambassador" Part I , Sequel To "Soul's Trial" Part I to III

Disclaimer:
I do not own most of these characters. I do not intend to earn money with
this story, nor do I express any rights. "STAR WARS" belongs to George Lucas
alone.

---------------
Prologe
---------------

The galaxy was vast, vaster than any sentient being could imagine. And
beyond it laid more galaxies, ever more, with a similar, if not greater
number of races, cultures, planets and resources to lay your hands upon.

Once, what seemed to have been a long time ago, all of this had been his.
Countless possibilities had lain before him, innumerable opportunities to
expand his wealth and might. All he had had to do was seize them,
incorporate them in his plans and milk them for all they were worth so that
he would come out the winner.

Then, though, everything had changed.

With a sneer on his features, he flicked off the holo of the galaxy and the
room sank into silent darkness. Small flecks of light were dancing on the
exquisite carpet, following the rhythm of the wind as it made the lanterns
out in the garden wobble and tremble.

His wealth was still considerable. Not everything had been taken from him.
But it was nothing compared to what could have been in his possession by
now. Nothing compared to the sweet taste of control and influence that he
had lost.

No one dared say it, but he knew. He was a prisoner more than anything else,
confined to a life that he had not chosen, a life that had been imposed upon
him.

People said that wounds healed with time, that the bite of humiliation and
failure gradually lost its sting. He didn't believe it. If it were true, he
had not been graced with that much luck.

But he didn't allow the negative emotions to eat him. No, he took the
bitterness and the envy and the hatred and twisted it into a weapon. It
spurred on his brain, his thinking.

He had always been clever - that was why he had managed to get away from his
homeplanet in the first place, why he had ascended to a position all of his
competitors had envied him for.

He knew there was no way he could regain what he had lost. How fortunate,
then, that this was not his goal at all.

His influence had dwindled; he didn't command what he once had. But what
little was left would still be enough in the hands of someone like him.

It was an art to follow what was happening in the galaxy and use it for your
own gain. He was the artist who could make it all into a scheme that would
make his foes tremble.

His revenge would be taken. Not directly. Not by his own hands. As much as
he regretted it, it was an impossible task and he had accepted this as a
necessary flaw in the realisation of his dreams.

It would be taken, though, and he would be there to see it happen. He would
be there, lurking, watching.

In the shadows.

------------------
Chapter 1
------------------

The sun had risen from behind the horizon in a blaze of fiery glory, finding
the city planet already busy with its never ceasing hustle and bustle.

A perpetual stream of speeders and spaceships passed the Imperial Palace on
Coruscant day and night. Although a large area around the actual building
was closed to air traffic and heavily guarded, the regular lanes were not
far enough away to become invisible.

Rays of light were reflected from the vessels' canopies, filling the horizon
with miniature lightning that made it possible to track every single vehicle
for a long, long while until it descended into the deeper levels.

Luke Skywalker had spent almost half an hour staring at the far away
goings-on, using the blinding reflections to deepen his meditation. Only now
did he feel calm enough to take his eyes away and turn back into the room.

The wide hall he had chosen for his mid-morning activities had not been used
since the New Republic had taken possession of the Palace and some believed
that even during Emperor Palpatine's reign no one had ever set foot in it.

The Jedi Master thought the reason to be obvious. Dozens of stairways
spiralled through the room, connecting balconies and platforms. The dark
stone was carved into many patterns and figures, telling tales of cultures
Luke was not familiar with.

The highlight of the room - or what had been meant to be a highlight - was a
wickerwork of smooth, blood red marble. It protruded from the ceiling like a
sieve of impossible proportions. An average seized human man could crouch on
any of its solid parts, hidden in its shadows and with an extraordinary
vantage point to oversee the whole chamber.

Many historians and architects had published their theories and guesses as
to the nature and sense of this monstrosity, but they all seemed as
unbelievable and far-fetched as the existence of the artwork itself.

The effect was stunning upon first sight, irritating at a second glance and
horribly disconcerting if you were to stay for longer than that. How anyone
could ever have thought that receptions and celebrations could have taken
place in here was a riddle to everyone who had ever seen the location.

For Luke Skywalker, however, it was the perfect setting.

With its unruly and highly illogical set-up, this room would be an
extraordinarily useful indoor training room for aspiring Jedi Apprentices
and accomplished Masters alike.

Luke had already created several exercises for his students and in only a
few more days, this would become official Jedi property. The New Republic
Administration hadn't hesitated to give it to the Order - it was of no use
to them and only one more room to be cleaned and maintained.

If it went as the Jedi Master had planned, it would be constantly occupied
by Jedi in group or single sessions to hone their fighting skills, improve
their concentration and teach them to use the environment to their advantage
in combat situations.

From that moment on, the room wouldn't hold any challenge to Luke anymore.
He had created the exercises and obstacle courses, knew the tricky movements
and the traps that were awaiting the Adepts.

He was certainly going to participate in the training and use the facility
to keep his own abilities at their peek. But at the same time, he would use
the privacy he still had to find a challenge of his own - a challenge he had
been craving to face for long months.

A soft hoot sounded out of the shadows to his left and Luke smiled.

"No, R2, I haven't changed my mind."

A tirade of bleeps and twitters accompanied him as he crossed the distance
to the little astromech and disposed of his coat. He had not told anyone
what he had come here for and he had had his reasons. The secrecy wasn't
necessary and he would doubtlessly tell Mara, his wife, about it eventually.
His brother-in-law, Han Solo, had it already figured out.

The fact that the Corellian hadn't tried to talk him out of it showed the
former farmboy just how much the older man really understood.

His faithful mechanical friend, though, hadn't found it in him to understand
his master's point of view and he felt it appropriate to heighten his
protests to a concert of trills that shrilled uncomfortably in Luke's ears
as he knelt in front of the astromech.

"We have had this discussion before and if you think you can persuade me not
to do it, go through your memory storage and count how many times exactly
you've managed to keep me from doing something I wanted to do in the past."

The droid gave him the electronic equivalent of a snort, then obliged and
opened a small section on his body to reveal a set of keys.

Luke did some adjustments, then straightened and took a last look around. It
was crucial that the astromech stood at the exact right place. The exercise
to come was unpredictable - Luke knew but the basics of what was coming his
way. It would still only work if R2 were positioned correctly.

Once satisfied, he nodded to his little accompany, "Start the sequence, R2."

While the data was loaded, Luke closed his eyes, let his arms sink to his
sides and tried to find his inner balance. He would go to his physical - and
mental - limits.

Han hadn't said a word when they had met up early in the morning, but the
look in the hazel eyes had echoed Luke's own doubts. Doubts about whether he
was ready to do this. This had been one reason for his long meditation at
the window before.

Now he knew that he was ready. As ready as he could ever be. The trials that
had shown him that fears did not vanish if you ran, that they even lost
their might upon your mind as you went and faced them, had been painful and
brought him closer to doom than anything ever had before. But they lay
behind him.

And to prove this to himself, there was only one way.

At the signal from R2, Luke unclipped his lightsaber from his belt and
dropped into a ready stance, left leg forward and slightly bent. The
humming, green blade pointed toward the floor. His muscles were relaxed as
he gathered his strength.

The awareness of his surroundings was flawless. Although his eyes were
closed, he knew the position of every stairway, of every column and of every
little pebble of sand or dirt on the otherwise spotless, gleaming floor.

There were no sounds to warn him, not even a movement in the air that could
alert him to the danger. All he had was the Force. As far as Luke was
concerned, it was all he needed.

In one fluid motion, he spun around and brought the saber up before his
face, frying two of his holographic adversaries instantly. And with that the
four dozen enemies broke formation, similar to a starfighter flight that was
surprised by a proton torpedo dropped right into its midst.

The air was full of their whirs as the animated thud and razor bugs swirled
around, knocking against walls and pillars and using their momentum to come
right back at him, from every angle possible.

Luke swung back his right leg to garner momentum of his own and jumped into
the air, covering a distance of several meters as he rotated around himself
and brought his blade with him in a deadly, circling pattern.

Simulated bugs whizzed past him, left and right, beneath him and over him as
he navigated through their formation, the Force giving him the edge he
needed to recognise their trajectories and move to avoid them.

He landed lightly on the floor and dropped into a roll over his left
shoulder to dodge a group of six bugs, knocking them out of the air with his
right foot and finishing them with a sweep of his lightsaber as he came
upright again.

His orientation still intact, he took a Force-enhanced leap and landed on
one of the stairways curving up to a series of interconnected balconies that
covered one half of the hall. Luke ran towards the nearest balcony with
fluid grace, defending his back with precise, short moves that knocked bugs
off their course or killed them.

The Jedi Master had been working for months to split his concentration thus
that he could run at full speed and move his lightsaber effectively without
ever glancing back. The holographic thud bugs came close to the originals in
that he could barely feel them in the Force, but he had learned to isolate
the empty spaces within the fabric that dominated all life of this galaxy
and follow them.

It had been slow and barely effective a technique in the beginning, but he
had perfected it after months of training. With another dozen foes
dispatched, he had a few precious seconds to ascertain the situation as the
combat computer within R2 regrouped its players and Luke used them to cross
the balconies with a series of long leaps and position himself with his back
to a solid wall.

There was barely a heartbeat until the astromech started the second
sequence - Luke had killed enough bugs to ensure that he could have dealt
easily with the remaining number, so the program automatically heightened
the level of the task.

The air filled anew with the buzzing of countless holographic wings, but
this time it was the maximum number of thud bugs a Yuuzhan Vong Warrior
could carry. Luke counted seventy and analysed in the fraction of a second
the formation in which they were coming at him and the course he had to plot
to reach the objective of this exercise - the holograph of a Yuuzhan Vong
Warrior shimmering in front of R2, more than a dozen meters away from him
and a good two meters below.

The Jedi Master breathed deeply and quenched the excitement that wanted to
well up within him. The basic tactic of countering a similar attack had so
far been neutralizing all the beetles first and then going for the warrior
that had dispatched them, a tactic that was not only time consuming but left
the Jedi in question very much exposed to other attacks by the same warrior,
be it amphistaff, tsaisi or hand-to-hand.

He had come up with another idea and this was the trial run. If it worked,
he could start refining and perfecting it. The probability that he would
once again face a hostile Yuuzhan Vong that had these weapons at his
disposal was marginal - if not nonexistent - but no matter the technique,
there was never just one way to employ it.

The mass of thud bug simulations swarmed out, formed groups and came at him
from different directions, filling the air around and before him with a
deadly labyrinth of fast moving living bullets that would shred him to
pieces if he were to lose concentration.

While he spun and dodged and his lightsaber sang around him, he diverted
part of his attention to the bugs that stayed on hold between him and the
projected warrior and watched their patterns of movement when they reacted
to his cautious feints in their direction.

Then he moved forward, took three long steps and vaulted down from the
railing of the balcony, green blade flashing to protect his body from the
bugs that had reacted quick enough to veer around and follow him.

He landed on the floor and jumped back up in the air immediately, noticing
at the fringes of his perception the bugs that slammed into the marble where
he had touched it. Luke turned while still in the air and brought his blade
down in a diagonal arc and back up to clear the space around him before he
landed upright two meters away from his target.

Seeing their master in danger, the totality of the thud bugs now
concentrated on him and closed in on him while he started running towards
his foe. Half of them came from the side of the window, almost invisible
because of the blinding sunlight.

They never reached him as he erected a Force wall on that side, but a group
behind him was luckier. He groaned as two slammed into his neck and sent him
face-first to the floor. His lightsaber went sailing and he slithered
uncontrolled towards the Yuuzhan Vong Warrior. The alien brought up his
weapon to greet him with a doubtlessly lethal blow to the head, sure of his
victory.

Luke did nothing to stop his forward movement, instead he summoned all the
control over his muscles that he had and flipped onto his back, catching the
eyes of the Yuuzhan Vong to keep a sense of direction and allowing himself
another smile.

The Jedi sent a flex through his right biceps and with the faintest hiss,
something slithered into his hand. Another pressure, soft enough to go
unnoticed by any enemy, made it stiffen and with silent grace, Luke gave his
body some more of a momentum and took the legs of the Yuuzhan Vong away from
under him.

The alien's eyes were widened in surprise and his mouth had opened to give
air to a curse as Luke swung the amphistaff with both hands and sheared it
through the other's armpit, severing the limb cleanly and letting the
warrior fall over to the side.

Agilely, Luke rolled to a crouching position and buried the head of the
foreign weapon in the back of his adversary's skull. As the hologram
dissolved, he came to his feet, called the lightsaber back to his hands and
launched himself into the mass of remaining thud bugs.

When the last one had been killed, Luke stood in the middle of the hall,
breathing hard and granting himself a moment in which he didn't register
anything but his rapidly beating heart and the blood racing in his ears.

Then, slowly, he allowed his surroundings to float back into his
consciousness and relaxed. The amphistaff, feeling the subtle change in his
muscles, grew limp and slithered around his forearm, rested its head on the
back of his hand and hissed in content.

Luke blinked and waited with baited breath for any sign of the savage lust
and exhilaration that he had feared to feel blossom upon allowing this piece
of the alien culture into his mind. But there was no such emotion within
him. Deep satisfaction filled him instead, satisfaction at the efficiency
and skill with which he had solved the situation and the depth of his
connection to the Force.

Beyond that, his mind was blissfully empty, cleansed the way only this kind
of exercise could. And that was how it was supposed to be.

The Jedi Master sank to his knees with a broad smile on his face and
gestured to R2.

The faithful droid rolled over, opened his hidden compartment and allowed
him to take out the yorik coral box stored therein.

Luke took it out and let the amphistaff slither into its nesting spot. Then
he grasped the small satchel that he had stuffed in behind and emptied its
contents - a motley of meat morsels - into the box. The Yuuzhan Vong animal
was taking its reward with gratitude as he let the yorik coral merge again
and put it back into R2's compartment.

The astromech gave another soft hoot, voicing a hesitant question.

"Yes, " Luke answered, "Now I've done what I needed to do."

"And you always need to make your life more complicate than it is anyway,
don't you?"

The Jedi Master smiled as the deep, rich voice sounded through the hall and
turned slowly. Han Solo was walking toward him in a most casual manner, but
his eyes were taking in every detail on the other's face.

"Liked the show?"

The Corellian answered with a huff as he came to stand next to the younger
man, still studying the other's expression.

Luke perched an eyebrow in impatience. Normally it didn't take Han that long
to share his opinion about any given thing with him and if he was keeping
back now, it meant that he wasn't comfortable about voicing his impressions.

Shifting uneasily, the Jedi Master frowned, "What?"

Han's face cleared, "I saw nothing that reminded me of Liin."

Luke relaxed visibly and went over to pick up his cloak. Slinging it around
his shoulders, he beckoned to R2 to follow him and returned to Han's side,
"Seeing the look on your face, I was getting worried. I didn't feel anything
out of the ordinary, you know. Nothing compared to what I felt when he was
still an issue."

"Me neither. I was just wondering why you were so afraid he would be
troubling you again. I remember what you told me and I thought he was gone
for good. Was I wrong?"

It wasn't easy to keep the worry out of his voice and even more difficult to
keep it out of his face as they made their way towards the doors that led
out of the room. Luke had never been one to be babied. Regardless of the
fact that he needed just that at times, it was also the quickest way to make
him shut down and block you out, no matter what you were trying to worm out
of him or explain to him.

His friend's silence didn't much to soothe him and he was about to push a
bit farther when Luke shook his head and the concentration on his face
dissolved into a broad, genuine smile.

"No, not at all. There was just something that made me wonder whether
something had been left. I mean nothing of his essence. More something of
his skills, his abilities."

Han's eyebrows rose and Luke took a moment to array his thoughts while they
crossed the long corridor to the lifts on this level. Their steps echoed
around them. This part of the Palace was deserted and would only start
teeming with life when the Jedi would take to it. Which would happen quite
soon, as the Corellian knew.

It was amazing how things had changed. One and a half year ago, the Jedi had
had one of the worst stands ever with the government and the peace within
the Order had deteriorated because some of the younger Knights had been of
the firm opinion to know better how to use the Force and to stay away from
the Dark Side than Luke did.

Then things had happened almost too quickly to grasp them and now here they
were, with Leia at the top of the New Republic government and Luke
establishing a Coruscant headquarter for his pupils and fellow Masters. And
with peace once again gracing the galaxy.

"I still understand their language."

His friend's voice pulled Han out of his thoughts and he needed a few
seconds to focus back on the smaller man.

"What do you mean, you still understand their language?"

They stepped into the lift and Luke leaned against the wall opposite the
Corellian as they started to be carried upwards.

"When I was fighting against Liin, when he was trying to conquer my soul, I
could understand the Yuuzhan Vong."

"Not a big surprise, I guess," Han commented.

Luke gave him a smirk, "No, indeed. When I got rid of Liin and after
Mezhan's death, I was automatically assuming that this ability had left me,
because it had been a part of Liin, not of me."

The taller man nodded for him to continue.

"Two days ago, I was reviewing all the old files we have of the Yuuzhan Vong
for Tionne. She wants to archive them properly so that all the Masters and
Adepts will have access to them in the future and can search for key words.
It took me three recordings to realise that I was listening to them and was
understanding every single word."

"Sith spit." Han voiced. His eyes had grown larger and it was not all too
difficult to catch the waves of shock and sudden worry that were emanating
from him.

Luke held up a hand and hoped his smile would quiet his friend.

"For a moment, I panicked and thought that maybe I hadn't managed to purge
everything of Liin from my soul. But I did."

"You sure?"

The Jedi Master nodded, "I did. I have thought a lot about this and I have
come to that conclusion already a couple of days ago. However, I wanted to
have a last confirmation and I knew the only way to get it was to use the
amphistaff that was bred for him and see that I don't respond with any kind
of blood lust or ferocity. I knew, however, that I didn't do a good job
recognising signs of Liin in myself the last time around and you are not
only the one who knows about the amphistaff, you also interacted with Liin
and saw me fight when I was him."

Silence fell once again over him as Han thought about what he had just heard
and allowed his pulse to slow down somewhat. Everything that had happened
because of Liin Kwaad had been horror for all of them, most of all for Luke.

The thought that a piece of the Yuuzhan Vong Warrior could have survived
within the Jedi Master, however small a piece it might actually be, was
enough to worry him. It took him a few moments to allow the relief about
Luke's explanations to consume him. It was over. Luke had known it even
before this morning and it was true.

Of course that brought up a different question.

"Then why can you understand them?"

Luke sighed and scratched his head, his confusion evident. The gesture
reminded Han so much of the eighteen-year-old farmboy he had once known that
he had to laugh.

The Jedi shot him an annoyed glance, then grinned and shrugged, "Well, I
don't really know. I suspect it's the lessons I got when I was Elan's
captive. And maybe my subconscious caught the words when Liin and Mezhan
were communicating. I suppose the possibilities are endless. Truth be told,
I'm not unhappy about it. It'll make dealing with them so much easier if I
understand what they say while they think I have no clue about it."

"True," Han acknowledged, "Does Mara know?"

Luke made a face, "No, she doesn't. Not yet anyway. I kind of… uh… forgot to
tell her."

The Corellian smirked at him, "I see. You will, of course."

The younger man stared at his boots for a while, then nodded, "I guess I
won't get around it. I felt her stretching out for me while we were down
there and she knows I've been doing exercise. She also knows you've been
there."

Now it was Han's turn to grimace, "Great. I'm dead."

"Nah, Leia won't let her kill you."

The Corellian snorted, "No, she'll kill me herself after she learns I've
been keeping that snake-thingy for you all the time."

"Amphistaff."

"Whatever."

Luke grinned and decided it was time to change the topic. "So, what about
this Senate session tomorrow? Has Leia let anything slip?"

Han shook his head, "No. I actually think she doesn't know herself what's
going on. The Senator of some backwater planet has requested you be there
and for some reason he insisted that he couldn't wait until your regular
attendance later this month."

"He could have just asked for a talk outside the Senate session. It's
commonly known I'm on planet at the moment, what with acquiring the new
rooms for the Jedi in the Palace."

The Corellian shrugged, "He's a politician, kid. There is something he wants
and he will think he's got a bigger chance getting it from you if the whole
Senate hears him asking for it."

Luke kept his expression neutral, "He won't be the first to try that."

Ever since he had assumed the position of Jedi Ambassador, people were
approaching him with pleas, both politically and privately motivated, that
he just couldn't fulfil. At the beginning, he had been almost unnerved by
the nature of their demands and the way they asked for them, wondering at
how his new position convinced them that all of a sudden, he was going to
owe them anything.

With time, he had come to accept the attitude of those around him as a
given, a firm constant in his life, and had learnt to deal with it. Leia had
been a big help in that regard, sharing with him all the experience she had
gathered in her decades in political service.

At first Luke had worried that people would start to look at him in a
negative way and that they would expand this opinion to the Jedi Order -
which would have been all but desirable. But they hadn't. Instead the Jedi
Master had the feeling that there was more respect coming his way as the
Senators and lobbyists had understood that although politically a beginner,
he was not a naïve toy waiting to be incorporated into their intrigues and
personal aspirations.

Although it was only about a year that he sat in on Senate sessions at least
once a month, he felt already more at home there than he would have ever
thought. Being a politician would never be his favourite pastime, but he
realised the necessity and the good he could do in his position as Jedi
Ambassador. He sat in on law decisions with a vote and was generally called
upon as the voice of the Jedi.

After the war with the Yuuzhan Vong and the peace treaty that had been put
into place, the reputation of the Jedi had risen to what it had been after
the Emperor's fall and suddenly most politicians and non-governmental bodies
seemed to think it was important to hear their opinions on certain matters
to get 'the galactic picture', as they called it.

This way, the Jedi Order was directly involved in the government without
neither dominating it nor being limited by it. They were an independent body
that was responsible only to the Chief-of-State and that also in very
limited terms.

Which was exactly what Luke had always wanted to achieve for the Jedi and it
filled him with satisfaction that he had succeeded.

It freed the way for the next project he was determined to undertake, which
was the recreation of the Jedi Council. His close friends in the Order had
reacted with hesitation to his idea, which had taken him aback. Even Mara
had said that if everyone wanted him to be the sole leader, he should just
accept their stand.

But fact was that Luke felt it would be wrong to give in. He felt the
confidence and awe in all of the Jedi when they talked to him and their
trust in his judgments and wisdom was thus that they would be perfectly
content without having a say in their missions. That didn't mean it was the
right thing to do, though.

In this aspect, his role in the war against the Yuuzhan Vong and the peace
treaty had changed the climate within the Order in a way that Luke did not
fully welcome. Whereas meetings had been reined by discussions and points of
view had been shared and discussed, now they all looked to him for the
decisions and didn't bring in their own opinions anymore the way they had
before.

Luke didn't think of himself as infallible - the way he saw it, he could not
be satisfied with how things were going right now. The voices of Kam Solusar
and Tionne, Corran Horn, Streen and Kirana Ti couldn't be left the only ones
willing to question his assessments and decisions.

In the end, he would have to come up with a system that would incorporate
both. His position as the leader of the Order - of which he wasn't half as
fond as everyone around him seemed to be - and the possibility for others to
bring in themselves in a constructive way.

"Kid? Hey, kid! Which galaxy have you flown to?"

Luke blinked and stared at Han for a moment, then realised the lift had
stopped and opened out onto the floor of the Solo apartment and the
Corellian was standing outside waiting for him to follow.

"Sorry, Han. I was just thinking."

"Yeah. I thought you were looking too solemn to have a naughty telepathic
chat with your lovely wife."

"Han!"

"Just kidding, Luke. Anything you want to talk about?" Han stabbed his hands
into the bags of his pants and took his time to wander along the corridor,
enjoying the view over the city that was bathed in the light of the spring
sun.

"It's just the Order, you know. Everyone wants me to be the sole leader."

"What's wrong with that? Haven't you been doing that ever since you decided
to start the Academy?"

"Yes.."

"What's changed? Tired of the responsibility?"

Luke's eyes darted to the serious face of his friends and he paused, the
obvious answer suddenly not so obvious anymore. Was he becoming tired
indeed?

Slowly, the Jedi shook his head, "No. No, it's not that. I don't like the
attitude of the others. They look at me as some kind of all-knowing,
invincible and infallible leader and that's just nothing I can be."

Han frowned, "I can see your problem. That's why you want the Council. And
that's why they don't think they need it."

Luke nodded.

The Corellian shrugged, "All you have to do is come up with a council that
you preside."

The former farmboy didn't answer, so Han cocked an eyebrow, "No?"

The younger man massaged his temple, "It seems to be that simple, yes, but I
don't know whether I want to preside it. I don't know whether it's right."

Han's features darkened, "This is because of what Senator Niuv said a couple
of weeks ago, isn't it?

Luke remained silent.

"Kid, you can't really believe that nonsense. No one else did, so you
shouldn't either."

"There are those who believe it. Or who are insecure enough to be troubled
by his words."

"Well, yeah, then they're idiots. And their number is very small. Something
that you know very well."

"Pwoe and Niuv work together and they are the representatives of very
influential worlds out there, Han."

The Corellian snorted, "Sure are. That doesn't mean anyone is listening to
what they say. They chose their allies unwisely in the past and they missed
the right time to step away from them. There aren't more than a handful of
Senators who take them serious at this point. I say don't worry about them."

"That's not easy if they make a point of claiming whatever the Jedi are
doing is just a bid for power in disguise," Luke sighed and for a moment his
face fell as the whole weight of his position and the forces that worked
against him crushed down on his shoulders.

"Yeah," his brother-in-law shook his head, "Who would have thought they'd
cling to the whole anti-Jedi thing even after the peace treaty with the
Vong."

The Jedi Master pressed his lips together, "In the beginning I thought their
motivation was genuine fear of the power the Jedi could get if we were to
take the path they accuse us of envisioning. But meanwhile, all I read in
them is greed and lust for power. It's not just against me they work, they
also complicate matters for Leia whenever they can."

"I know. But their influence on the opinion of the public has dwindled. I
don't think you have to worry about another upsurge of Jedi antipathy
anytime soon. Besides, as soon as Karrde pinpoints their links to the
smugglers in the Outer Rim, Pwoe and Niuv will be done for anyway."

Luke frowned in doubt, "IF there are any links he can pinpoint at all."

"Bah," Han waved a hand in dismissal, "There's ALWAYS a trace to follow,
Luke. Especially if Karrde is looking for it. In the meantime, you'll just
have to keep being the wall those two run into."

The former farmboy smiled, at last, "And you bet I'll be."

The Corellian winked at him. They had meanwhile reached the door of the Solo
apartment and entered. The spacious rooms were filled with childish squeals
and giggles and the sweet laughter of one Alderaanian princess.

Every trace of worry or annoyance left Luke within the fraction of a second
as he discarded his cloak and hastened his steps to reach the living room.
The stunning skyline of Coruscant during an early spring afternoon was a
lovely background to the view that let his heart beat faster in happiness.

Leia Organa Solo was sitting on a nerf wool blanket that she had positioned
in front of the large window. The colours of the rainbow swirled on it in
never ending patterns that had been stitched by hand on her homeplanet a
long time ago. Luke remembered the day on which Han had given this precious
gift to his wife in honour of her birthday. He also remembered the day they
had spent running through seedy shops in the lower levels of the city planet
to locate one of the few that had managed to survive Alderaan's destruction.

In front of the petite woman crawled a toddler, fascinated by the colourful
wonders beneath him and announced his delight in his childish language
whenever Leia laid his tiny hand on one of the colours and told him the
name.

The moment the Jedi Master stepped into the room, though, Ben Skywalker's
attention shifted and large, blue eyes turned to the man that was
approaching the blanket with a huge smile on his face.

Chubby arms lifted and the small child struggled to his feet. With uncertain
steps and a delighted squeal that, to the experienced ear, translated into
"Daddy!" he tried to meet his father halfway only to crow in excitement when
Luke picked him up and nuzzled his cheek in greeting.

The child clung to him and started pointing eagerly towards the blanket,
"Colours. Daddy play."

Luke beamed and settled in on the blanket next to his sister. Leia brushed
her lips over his cheek in greeting and took her nephew from his father's
arms to place him back on the floor.

"I didn't know Ben was here." His words were laced with mild surprise as
Luke allowed his son to take his hand and the boy proceeded to teach his
father the colours just as his aunt had taught them to him all morning.

Leia smiled and caressed through the silky, blond hair of the toddler. Ben
pretty much ignored her, having had his fill of cuddles already. "Mara
brought him over early. She said an unexpected appointment had come up that
she couldn't take him to."

Luke frowned and his sister was quick to add, "She said, too, that you
shouldn't worry. It was just that it wasn't going to take place in her
office and she didn't want to take Ben to the pub she and her client were
meeting at."

The Jedi Master relaxed and shifted slightly to accommodate his son as the
child crawled all over his lap to reach a bright red spot.

"A client, hu? So it's got nothing to do with the rooms the Jedi are going
to acquire in the Palace."

Leia shook her head, "No. She said she'd already taken care of most of that.
You're going to have a whole storey for the Order."

That remark managed to send the small rest of the frown on Luke's face
flying and his happy beam returned, "That's great. That means we can have
temporary quarters for Jedi during missions here or that lead them closer to
Coruscant than to Yavin IV, a library…. I'm glad we'll have enough room."

"If your Academy is anything to go by, you'll not even use all of the room
you've got." Han added, crossed the room and joined his wife and
brother-in-law on the floor. The tall man gently nudged the toddler that was
watching the new arrival with interest, "Hi, short stuff."

As a way of greeting, Ben made his way over to the Corellian and crawled in
his lap, eagerly inspecting the man's belt. When he saw the empty blaster
holster, he looked up in dismay, as if to chide his uncle for not bringing
the toy that, next to his father's lightsaber, seemed to interest him most.

Focusing on his father as if looking for support and finding a stern Jedi
Master shaking his head no, the boy's lower lip started trembling, but Luke
already knew that face and had found a way to counteract what was to come.

He levitated Ben up into the air with the Force, pushed him softly and let
him collide ever so gently with his chest. Feigning a groan, he toppled over
and chuckled as his son recognised their game and started to poke and tickle
him as best he could with his limited physical powers.

Leia and Han both grinned at each other and rose, leaving father and son to
continue their play.

"Are you two staying for dinner? Mara said it could get late." The Princess
asked, straightening her light blue, velvety gown as she started walking
towards the kitchen.

"Sure, why not. Can I use your shower?" Luke didn't even look at them
anymore, completely transfixed by the child in his arms.

"Just go ahead and help yourself." Han gestured in the fresher's direction
and joined his wife in the kitchen. Leia was already consulting with the
food preparation unit about the ingredients they had at home.

"Would you ever have thought?" He smiled and shook his head while pouring
himself a glass of water.

"What?" His wife asked.

"Well, Luke being a father. I still can't believe it at times."

Leia paused and smiled herself as the sounds of the wild play in the living
room filled the apartment.

"Me neither. But it's as if he's never done anything else."

"True. It helps him relax, too."

The Princess frowned, "Trouble?"

Han shrugged, "No, not really. He's just brooding about the whole Jedi
Council thing. Told him to just go ahead as he thinks fit and not bother
about everyone else."

The small woman nodded in appreciation, "That's the best he can do."

"He's also wondering what that Senator could want of him." Luke's voice
intruded as he stepped into the kitchen, Ben safe in his arms and curiosity
evident on his face.

Leia gave him an apologetic shrug, "I have no idea. He said he didn't want
to talk about it outside the Senate. Whatever it is, he's eager to get broad
support. I suppose he'll want the Jedi to help his planet or him in some way
or the other."

"In other words, all I can do is wait." He paused a moment, then smiled,
"Wait and see to it that this little fellow gets something to eat. He's
hungry."

And with that, the Jedi Master turned and headed deeper into the apartment
in search of the bag with his son's things. Whatever was awaiting him the
next day, right now he was looking forward to a comfortable afternoon spent
with his family and a lazy evening with his wife.

---------------------------
To Be Continued
---------------------------

Jedi Ambassador I - In The Shadows
Chapter 2
By Sienn (2004)

Night had long fallen when Mara Jade Skywalker pressed her palm onto the
sensor field that would grant her access to the suite that she and her
little family had been calling their home for a little more than a year now.

Shortly before Ben's birth, the couple had decided that a larger apartment
was called for. The redheaded beauty smiled as she remembered the evening
when her husband had first proposed the move to her. Although his arguments
had all been well-thought out and perfectly reasonable, his true motivation
had shown through clearly, shimmering just underneath the thin layer of
innocence that he had been so eager to project.

Luke Skywalker had taken a liking to being a father and although he had not
yet breached the subject openly, his wife knew that he was playing more
often than not with the thought of having another child. It wouldn't be long
before he would take her to the side, probably after they had spent the
afternoon playing with their son, and approach the matter with what he would
perceive to be subtle steps aimed at outmanoeuvring any argument she might
bring up against the enterprise.

Mara grinned and shook her head, lost in thought. He was so easy to read if
you knew what to look for. Easily startled, too, inside that private space
that so few people ever were granted access to. It was there that he had
retained the Tatooine farmboy, and so much of his warmth and devotion. Yes,
Luke would be appropriately astonished upon realising that Mara had long
since been aware of his dreams and that she had indeed already decided for
herself that there was nothing in her that didn't want another child with
him.

However, this was still a futuristic thought. As things lay, there might be
other things they would have to turn their attention to first.

Mara stepped into the small anteroom that separated their actual living
quarters and the door and stored her cloak into one of the built-in lockers
at the wall to her right. Proceeding onward, she let her eyes wander and
took in the familiar sights that still induced a small amount of disbelief
in her at times. The suite encompassed two floors in its totality, and the
lower one was not divided into single rooms, except for a guest room to the
left. Aside from this, there was just one single, wide room opening before
her, with a stairway leading up to the second floor and the wall opposite
the entry completely made of transparisteel.

A door gave to the garden, created on a wide terrace just big enough to
harbour a lawn, a place to sit and a small heaven of trees and flowers that
gave colour to the polished glass and steel world that was Coruscant.

On the right side seen from the entry, they had placed a group of stylish
black and brown nerf leather armchairs and couches and a low glass table
that turned from crystal clarity to opaque blackness with the play of the
sun's rays on its surface. Several artworks displaying stunning vistas of
Yavin IV's sunsets, Tatooine's deserts glistening during an early dawn and
Alderaan's wide plains adorned the otherwise plain walls. This was where
visitors were led to and many of them had looked upon these drawings with
wonder and appreciation.

Obviously not from the hand of one of the many renowned artists known all
over the galaxy, but still testimony to a certain talent and a love for
nature and its beauty they added atmosphere to a section of the suite that
would otherwise have seemed a bit too cold and formal for Luke's taste. An
added bonus to the Jedi Master was the irony of the fact that all the
dignitaries and diplomats that came seeking more personal knowledge about
Luke Skywalker never went away satisfied - never realizing that an aspect of
him that no one but his family knew about was put out in the open for them
to see.

Mara still sometimes couldn't believe that she had never known Luke liked to
draw until he had told her so on Chandrila, almost two years ago. During
their days there, she had made him promise to show her more of what he had
done over the years and when she had expressed her admiration, he had been
eager to decorate their home with his favourite sights of the planets that
had played so much of a role in his life.

Tearing her gaze away, Mara turned to the left, passed the stairway and the
huge dining table that gave room for up to twelve persons to enter the
kitchen and pour herself a glass of juice. She might have spent the past few
hours sitting in a pub, but drinking had been the last thing on her mind.
The very last thing.

Giving a silent sigh, she backtracked her steps and climbed the stairway,
soundless and light as a gust of wind.

The peace with the Yuuzhan Vong had brought an odd mix of stability and
stress into their life as a married couple. There were more constants than
ever, constants that gave them the strength to go on, and yet the work
seemed to be never-ending. Once more the galaxy had had to realize how much
easier and quicker it was to destroy than to rebuild and even though
everyone's efforts had been centred on clearing the mess the Yuuzhan Vong
had left in the wake of their sudden onslaught, there was still so much more
to be done.

And even if that had been arranged to everyone's satisfaction at this
point - a state that Mara suspected to arrive only a couple of years in the
future - the diplomatic relationships with the strange and exotic alien race
had barely begun to blossom. The so much craved exchange of knowledge and a
more profound understanding of their culture and religion could as well have
been called a dream as a work in progress.

The Yuuzhan Vong had followed the stipulations of the peace treaty
meticulously. They had withdrawn their soldiers from every occupied planet.
According to the assurances of the Supreme Overlord, his Master Shapers were
busy developing countermeasures for every single manipulation that had been
done at their hands. There were voices in the Senate that openly doubted the
truth behind Shimrra's words, but as long as the Yuuzhan Vong stayed on the
worlds that they had received in exchange for peace no one took the
discussion so far as to demand pressuring the aliens. Not yet, at least.

You didn't have to be a state-of-the-art diplomat to realize that this state
would not endure very long if the isolation the Yuuzhan Vong were obviously
eager to live in continued in this extreme a form.

At the very edge of the known galaxy, the New Republic had found a cluster
of stars with no indigenous sentient life forms. After much research and
probing by the Master Shapers of the Supreme Overlord, the worlds had been
deemed acceptable and the totality of the Yuuzhan Vong had moved in. Moved
in and closed the door behind them.

They might have given the cluster a name of their own, but if so, they had
never deigned informing Coruscant of it. To the New Republic, this region of
space - not that far away from Belkadan - was simply called the Yuuzhan Vong
cluster. On its frontier patrolled the living yorik coral crafts of the
aliens as well as the Star Destroyers and Mon Calamari cruisers of the New
Republic, maintaining a silence that was less the result of enmity than
incomprehension and insecurity.

Until the galaxy they all knew and cherished had returned to normal, no one
would pay much attention to the chosen silence between the Yuuzhan Vong and
the peoples of the New Republic. But once there was nothing else to keep the
politicians occupied, this course of ignoring each other with purpose and
determination would start to look suspicious and have to be changed.

To Mara's not so small annoyance, her husband was one of the most stout
supporters of the knowledge exchange and his fascination with everything
Yuuzhan Vong was unnerving her more than she dared admit. Ridiculous as it
might be, everything that had occurred around Mezhan Kwaad, Priestess Elan
and both their pet project Liin had left more of an impression on her than
on Luke. In that aspect, at least.

If she had her way, her husband would not come within visual range of
anything Yuuzhan Vong if it could be helped. Unfortunately, Luke was pretty
good at ignoring that particular wish of his wife and was eager to expand
his knowledge wherever he could.

It wasn't as if that surprised Mara. It just irked her, plain and simple.
Pushing these thoughts out of her head, knowing that they would lead to
another argument with her beloved that she would lose to his pragmatism and
his ability to switch off emotions like fear or caution if it suited his
purposes, she stepped into what was their true private sanctuary.

This was where Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade Skywalker lived and were only
friends and family were allowed to trespass. She faced a room half as large
as the floor below. A window went out on the garden, but it didn't fill the
whole outer wall. It was an old-fashioned construct, in fact, below which a
wide, plush couch was situated. Dark green, it played beautifully with the
rest of the furniture - armchairs in the same shade and a crystalline glass
table that was manufactured in true Mon Calamari fashion without corners or
sharp ends.

The walls of their personal living room were not graced with Luke's
artworks. Instead, the one opposite the window was worked into shelves
filled with keepsakes of both Luke and Mara that they held dear and holos of
friends and family. The one opposite the entry was home to a chimney. In the
space between the group of armchairs and couch and the shelve stood a
smaller table that Luke and her normally occupied when they were eating at
home.

Breaking the row of the shelves was the vaulted entry to a corridor that
sported two doors left - Ben's room and a spare room -, two doors right -
Luke's private room and her private room - and one door at the end that led
to their bedroom.

Feeling joy and satisfaction settle deep into her heart upon letting her
gaze wander over the home she cherished so much, Mara smiled and spotted her
husband immediately.

Luke Skywalker sat on the couch beneath the window, a glow lamp pinned into
the corner of the room shedding soft, golden light over him and the ancient
book he was reading. With the more or less steady work hours peace brought
to them, he had found time to devote to his hobbies and had recently begun
to study as much of the old Jedi mythology as Tionne had been able to dig
up.

Right now, though, he was smiling at her and put the book away as she
crossed the room and sank next to him. They exchanged a soft kiss as a way
of greeting and Mara glanced over to the corridor.

"Is he asleep?"

Luke nodded and stretched, using the opportunity to steal a glance at his
chrono that he had disposed on the glass table. "We tired him out pretty
good."

At his wife's cocked eyebrow, the Jedi Master grinned, "Hey, you should be
grateful. I don't think he'll wake up a single time tonight."

Mara smirked at him, thinking how much she hated it to disturb this peaceful
atmosphere with what she had learned today. Luke, ever the perceptive one,
frowned and sat up, noticing the seriousness that was pouring off her
underneath her relief and happiness to be home.

"What's the matter, Mara? Trouble?"

The redhead shook her head and tugged her legs in under her, gratefully
resting her head on her husband's shoulder as his left arm sneaked around
her. "I wouldn't call it trouble. I'd call it vermin that's getting too
cheeky for their own good."

They settled deeper into the welcoming furniture.

"Who have you met up with?"

"Shada D'ukal."

She sensed Luke coming on full alert, all traces of satiated tiredness and
laziness gone from his mind in the fracture of a second.

"Has Karrde found anything?"

"Yes and no."

The Jedi Master's enthusiasm ebbed a bit, "Oh. That means all he's got is
guesses."

"Talon's guesses are as good as hard facts, you know that."

"Sure do. The Senate doesn't, though. I can't go and claim Niuv and Pwoe are
associated with smugglers if I don't have hard proof of it and you know
that, Mara."

The beautiful woman in his arms snorted, "You could always try. If you morph
it into a popularity contest, you're going to come out the winner, proof or
not."

"Mara, I."

She laughed softly and craned her neck just enough to look into his
gorgeous, blue eyes. "It's okay, farmboy. I know you want to play fair. More
than six years of marriage and I still haven't managed to get that out of
you."

Luke made a face at her, but refused to take the bait. "So what DOES he
have? He wouldn't send Shada if there was nothing he could give us."

"True," Mara acknowledged. "He has been watching the market and he has
pinpointed a couple of smuggler groups that he thinks could be tied to
either Pwoe or Niuv. Indirectly, of course."

"Of course. They are self-centred and corrupt, but they are not stupid."

The former Emperor's Hand nodded, "Right. But Talon thinks he has narrowed
it down enough to give us a starting point from where investigations could
go. I've got the data with me. All you have to do is assign teams."

She felt him nod.

"That's not all there is, though."

Mara sighed, "No, it isn't. Karrde's people have caught some talks, rumours
only. Not enough to nail anyone down and prove they're having sources in the
Senate. Yet there's word that governing won't be very smooth in the weeks to
come."

She could practically see her husband frown. "What's THAT supposed to mean?
I can't believe anyone in this galaxy still thinks governing has EVER been
smooth. Leia'd probably get a laughing fit if you used that word in relation
to her job."

The redhead grinned, "Yeah. Still," the seriousness returned, "it means
there's going to be trouble. Trouble that someone will cause deliberately to
bog down the government and to divert its attention from themselves."

"And you think it'll be Senator Pwoe. Or Senator Niuv."

"Or both of them, yes."

Luke took his arm away and they changed position so that they were facing
each other. "Why should they want to do that? Their integrity in the Senate
has never been questioned. They don't have many supporters, but no outright
enemies either."

"True." Mara conceded.

The former farmboy was silent for a while, then inquired, "Did Karrde's
people catch any hints as to the nature of whatever is supposed to trouble
the government?"

"No."

"Then it could be everything. It could be one of those smuggler groups he
pinpointed overestimating their influence and thinking they could actually
cause enough mayhem to get the Senate's attention."

Mara frowned, "None of them is big enough to do that."

Luke smirked, "That doesn't mean they don't think they're big enough."

His wife grinned, "Point taken."

"I guess all we can do is tell Leia about this. So that she can watch out.
Not that she ever doesn't. And after the Senate session tomorrow, I'm going
to sit down and see about comprising groups to send out to investigate
Karrde's leads."

"Right." Mara nodded her approval, then shifted focus, "Speaking of
tomorrow's Senate session. Did Leia have any idea what you're wanted for?"

"None whatsoever."

"Too bad. It's never wrong to be prepared."

"Never wrong, but not always absolutely necessary." Luke said, stifling a
yawn. It became harder to suppress his fatigue with every minute. Midnight
had almost come and he HAD had a hard day. Satisfying, but hard.

"You had? I wasn't aware babysitting your son was so hard on you,
Skywalker?" Jade eyes twinkled and concentrated on his face and Luke hardly
managed not to grimace. So much for not telling her about his morning
practice. Or rather, the exact nature of it.

"What was so special about your morning practice?" Now her voice was
dripping with curiosity and Luke glared darkly at her, "Stop that, will you?
I haven't done the effort of quenching the urge to pick up on all your
thoughts just so that you can turn the tables and pick up all of mine!"

"Hey, I NEED to do that, farmboy. If I don't, you'll get into trouble."

Luke snorted.

His wife's eyes narrowed slightly, "In fact, I think you already are. Why
don't you want to tell me about what you did this morning?"

Azure orbs clouded over in stubbornness, "Who says I don't want to tell
you?"

All she did was stare him dead in the face, waiting. Luke met her gaze for a
few seconds, then rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Okay, okay. You win. But
don't blame me afterwards. I simply wanted to prevent you from worrying."

"Sweet of you." She smiled.

Luke pursed his lips in a gesture of sarcasm, then took a deep breath. "I
was practicing with the amphistaff."

Mara's smiled died as quickly as it had bloomed on her face. Instead, an
expression of utter bafflement and disbelief settled on her gorgeous
features. "You did WHAT?"

"Calm down, love. It was just a test, you know. I wanted to make sure that."

"A test?? A test of WHAT?" Her voice had gone dangerously low and there was
just a hint of worry sounding through her anger. Still, that was better than
nothing.

Luke, for his part, looked defeated and gave a sigh, "See? I knew you'd
react like that. All that unnecessary stress.."

"Luke Skywalker, what are you NOT telling me? After more than one year and a
half, you decide you need a test? You better have a good explanation for
that, Jedi, or I'm going to."

"You're going to what?" The Jedi Master challenged and rose. "Mara, we've
been through this a lot of times. And that even longer ago than one and a
half years. I don't want to be babied, I don't need to be babied. Period.
And if I want to practice with my amphistaff, then I practice with my
amphistaff."

"So, now it's YOUR amphistaff." She stated, obviously fuming while she
continued glaring up at him.

Luke scowled, "It's always been my amphistaff. And there's nothing that
needs worry you, Mara, because there is nothing of Liin left in me. Nothing.
All I can do is take advantage of his skills."

"Skills as in plural?"

Her husband sighed again, "Yes. I understand Yuuzhan Vong."

"By all the dark moons of."

"That's EXACTLY why I didn't want to tell you before this morning. You're
always so jittery about all that."

"JITTERY?"

Luke fell silent and looked down at her. Her green eyes were widened and
there was more than rage and annoyance in them. There was sorrow and worry.
And even fear. Shaking his head, he sat down again and took her hands into
his. "Don't freak, please. Everything's okay. I promise, everything is
okay."

He tugged at her, softly at first, then with more determination, and finally
Mara yielded and merged against his chest. "You promise that you just didn't
want this fight and that you didn't keep it from me because he's. he's back?
Somehow?"

Luke kissed the crown of her head and opened up to her, utterly, so that she
could see everything and nothing was hidden from her. "I promise. I was
thinking strategically."

"I see." The edge had vanished from her voice and he felt her calming down.
Then something else crept into her thoughts and he felt her grin more than
he actually saw it.

"Did you deplete all your energies or have you left some to make up for
this?"

Luke cocked an eyebrow, "We're even. You didn't bring exactly good news, did
you?"

"Yours were worse. We almost woke up Ben."

The farmboy slowly nodded his head, a smile tugging at the corners of his
mouth, "Okay, I see your point. So, what can I do to make up for it?"

"A kiss would be a good start. We'll see where we can go from there." She
pecked the tip of his nose and chuckled as he eagerly claimed her lips,
saving himself the trouble of voicing his agreement out loud.

*~~

The sun was pouring its rays into the spacious office, warming the occupants
therein. The finely wrought strands of silver tied into Leia Organa Solo's
hair in elaborate patterns and holding the dark brown tresses in place on
her aristocratic head glittered and sent sparkling highlights over the
walls.

The Princess' still beautiful face was disgraced by a frown as her hazel
eyes travelled over the letters on the datapad that lay before her on the de
sk.

"Fyor Rodan? When did he petition for floor time?"

Her aid, Alole, a slender, tall woman that seemed to never lose her calm and
had learned well from her predecessor, Leia's long-time friend Winter,
shrugged her delicate shoulders.

"Late yesterday evening. There was no reason to deny him. I'm sorry, Your
Excellency."

Leia waved the other's apology away, "No. No, it's okay, Alole. I can't keep
him from speaking up on the floor just because I don't like him. Or his
political agenda, for that matter. It's just. the guy makes me wonder
whether democracy truly is the best way to govern a galaxy."

A chuckle sounded from opposite her and the Princess lifted her head to meet
the broad grin on her twin's face. Luke Skywalker had settled into one of
the bodyform reserved for visitors and was shaking his head at her. "You
should ask me to go out before you break your own rules. You spent too much
time drilling them into me to jeopardize your pedagogic success."

"Very funny, Master Skywalker." She stressed his title on purpose. It just
prompted him to chuckle some more.

"As if you actually liked him." She finally said and thumbed off the
datapad.

Luke shrugged, "Of course I don't. But at least he's easy to predict. His
ravings never change. He just alternates between the insults he flings
towards the Jedi. We have countered him enough times."

His sister nodded and rose slowly, "It's still no fun. And besides.. He
usually doesn't petition for floor time this late. He likes having time to
arrange his supporters accordingly and instruct them when to howl and clap."

"And?"

Leia shrugged, "I don't know. He's been pretty quiet lately. Makes me wonder
why he wants to speak up now. And why he doesn't want me to have time to
prepare myself. Alole, is there any significant news from Commenor? Anything
I should know about?"

"No, Your Highness."

"Maybe you're interpreting too much." Luke had risen and walked around the
table to lay an arm around her shoulders. "Use the minutes we've left to
tell me whether that other Senator has let slip anything about his address
to me."

The petite woman in his arms shot him a meaningful glance, "He hasn't. And
you're the last person I ever expected to tell me I should ignore a hunch."

Her brother frowned, "You didn't say you were having a hunch. Don't confuse
your antipathy for Rodan with a true feeling of foreboding."

Leia made herself free and strode into the middle of the room to muster
herself a last time in the full-length mirror that was worked into one of
the walls. She was wearing a creamy white bodice that hugged her close and
was perfected by a robe was slung around one of her shoulders and fastened
around her hips with another, broader strand of silver. She had never been a
friend of pompous appearances before the Senate, but protocol demanded she
underlined her status as President of the New Republic in some way.

"I'm not confusing anything," she insisted, gracing her brother with another
pointed look.

It wasn't until they were standing in front of the huge double doors that
would give them access to the Senate Hall that Luke said something again, "I
guess we should look out, then."

Leia nodded at him and together they entered.

*~~

Several hours later, the voice of the representative sent by the New
Republic Defence Force fell silent, finishing the report that had updated
everyone on the deployment of the fleet groups across the galaxy and the
recent skirmishes with Yuuzhan Vong border patrols - which were thankfully
nonexistent.

The faces of Senators all over the hall showed relief and satisfaction -
peace had not reigned long enough to have lulled them back into the state of
ignorance and laziness that had possessed them at the beginning of the
Yuuzhan Vong crisis and that had ultimately cost so many beings' lives. If
anything, some of them seemed all too eager to prove their superiority to
the aliens and there had been several heated discussions in the past that
had only been quietened as Leia had pointed out the specifics of the peace
treaty and the assurances that had been given to the Yuuzhan Vong in
exchange for the halt of their conquest.

Forgiveness was a lot to ask and she knew it might be too early to do so,
but honour was an entirely different matter. As long as she had any say in
the matter, the New Republic would not breach the truce and turn into an
aggressor. Mindless genocide as retribution for the victims of the war would
bring no one back to life and certainly not help speed the restoration of
worlds that had been devastated.

Concentrating on the present moment again, she nodded at the officer and
looked down at the datapad that contained the list of speakers for today.
She felt her brother's presence in the Force go on full alert and saw him
straighten almost imperceptibly at her side. The Jedi were having the place
next to the Chief of State as had been agreed in the very first session that
had seen the presence of the Jedi Ambassador Luke Skywalker.

Leia rose from her seat and let her eyes wander over the rows and rows of
differently designed booths that harboured hundreds of beings that stood for
billions of others.

"The chair recognizes Senator Anandan Kele of Ord Radama."

Way up in the rows where the booths were occupied by smaller worlds of
lesser importance - be it strategically or economically - a tall man of
bronze complexion rose to his feet. Pointed ears perked out of white hair
flecked with grey strands and slanted eyes the colour of obsidian met the
President's gaze. The humanoid bowed slightly to acknowledge her and Leia
returned it gracefully.

"Senator Kele, you requested the presence of Jedi Master Skywalker outside
of the regular schedule. If you still wish to make your case, this is your
opportunity."

"Thank you, Your Excellency. Master Skywalker." He bowed in Luke's direction
as the Jedi rose from his chair and stepped onto the podium Leia had
vacated. When the protocol for his appearances in front of the Senate had
been decided upon, it had appealed to everyone involved that just as the
Chief of State, the Jedi Ambassador should occupy the pedestal that set him
apart of the others and illustrated the importance of his position as well
as the fact that he placed himself so that everyone could see him, a
practical embodiment of the figurative duty to lay bare the motives and the
truth before the assembled representatives of the galaxy's peoples.

Luke reciprocated the bow, "What can I do for you, Senator?"

The deep baritone of Kele sounded once again through the hall, "Allow me to
offer you my apologies for requesting your presence out of schedule, Master
Skywalker, but I'm afraid the problem my world is facing requires immediate
attention."

The hall fell silent. Ord Radama was a small world, close to what was now
the Yuuzhan Vong cluster and had then been the entry point of their
invasion. Not rich on resources, economically unimportant and sparsely
populated, the aliens had pretty much ignored it. As had the New Republic
and the Empire for the past decades. The implication of the fact that a
planet as small and insignificant as Ord Radama would petition to the leader
of the Jedi Order either meant someone was trying to make points without
regard for his own status or there was a problem brewing in the Outer Rim
none of them was aware of. Neither of these possibilities sat well with the
politicians that were both proud and insecure after what had last come out
of the Outer Rim regions to trouble them.

"Go on, Senator," Luke said gently.

Kele nodded, "I'm sure none of you are informed about the economic situation
of Ord Radama and therefore none of you will be aware of the dire situation
my people find themselves in. Interstellar trade has been sparse and due to
the lack of natural resources of our planet, we face a problem of
overpopulation and poverty that is starting to disrupt the peace on our
world."

He paused for effect and, as it seemed, to gather the courage he needed to
continue. Luke found himself intrigued. Less by the nature of what he had
heard so far - he knew that many small Outer Rim worlds were fighting the
same problems - than by the way it was brought before him and the Senate.
Though Anandan Kele seemed sincere enough in his sorrow, there was something
strange about him. Something that Luke could not yet pinpoint.

The Senator continued, "You will understand that if a possibility to do
interstellar trade with a considerably richer world presents itself, we need
to take it to ensure the stability of our society and the survival of our
people."

Nods were multiple and Luke found himself agreeing, felt his sister agree,
too. Yet, there was also wariness, because it seemed obvious that there
would be quite some obstacle coming. Soon.

"Said possibility has now come, but we face a hindrance that seems
impossible to overcome without help. Therefore, I, for the people of Ord
Radama, ask for the help of the Jedi as mediators."

Luke frowned at that, "Senator Kele, I sympathize with your situation, but
the Jedi don't have the expertise in matters of business to."

"With all due respect, Master Skywalker, you misunderstand me. We don't need
your help mediating terms of the contract with our trading partner. We need
your help mediating with those that govern the space through which our ships
would have to travel."

Luke felt an unwelcome weight settle in his stomach and from the corner of
his eyes saw Leia frown. He felt that she was thinking along the same lines
his thoughts were going, too.

Anandan Kele cleared his throat and when he spoke again, his voice sounded
as strong as it was weak. Luke's puzzlement heightened. The Senator's
sincerity, plainly to feel through the Force, didn't fit his behaviour. This
was most odd.

"I hereby ask you, Master Skywalker, and the Jedi, to help us open
negotiations with the Yuuzhan Vong to obtain permission to travel through
their cluster."

The whole Senate gasped and Luke felt the urge to do so, too. He managed to
not shake his head in wonderment, though. He had suspected this was going to
be what Kele would ask of him, but hearing it spoken out loud was another
matter entirely.

Murmurs were filling the hall, hundreds of separate conversations. Hushed
words travelled and the disquiet was obvious.

Luke waited until he felt that he could speak without his voice being
drowned out, then sought eye contact with Anandan Kele.

"I will consider your plea, Senator."

"Thank you, Master Skywalker. We have all the data available. You can look
into it whenever you want. I understand that this decision needs time and
cannot be taken lightly, but I urge you in the name of my people to do what
you deem right as quickly as possible."

Again this odd mix of sincerity and.. Was it regret?

Luke nodded again, "I assure you I will do my best as soon as you give me
the necessary information. You realize, though, that the government of the
New Republic will have to be included in the decision."

Yet more regret poured from Kele. If Luke had not known better, he would
have thought the Senator didn't even WANT to help his own planet.

"I am aware of this, Master Skywalker."

Luke remained standing for a moment, allowing the full meaning of what had
just happened to sink in. When he was returning to his seat, he was already
wondering whether this was not truly impossible to accomplish.

The Jedi Master passed his sister as she was returning to the pedestal in
order to call the next Senator on the list and he felt her irritation and
discomfiture plainly through the Force. A plea like the one of Ord Radama
could not be ignored - even if doing so might be the best course of action,
in fact.

This would have to be thought through with care - by the Jedi just as much
as by the Advisory Council of the New Republic. After the present session
had adjourned, however. Clearing her throat as a mild call for order, she
spoke.

"The chair recognizes Senator Fyor Rodan of Commenor. Your turn, Senator."

Displaying his usual air of arrogance and haughtiness, Fyor Rodan rose and
sent a contemptuous sneer into the general direction of Anandan Kele's
booth.

"As sorry as I am for Ord Radama, I still fear that the matter I'm bringing
before you today, Gentlebeings, is of a greater importance."

Snorts and looks filled with dislike met the Commenorian Senator, aimed at
him from a multitude of representatives of Outer Rim planets. The disdain
Fyor Rodan held for any world outside the Core was known to all of them, yet
he mostly refrained from displaying it that obviously in a Senate session.

As he continued, the reaction of the Outer Rim Senators hadn't done much
more than heighten his arrogance, "Information has reached me, from an
anonymous source, that I could not believe. Yet I let it be checked by my
own people and I'm afraid that it seems to be correct. Correct enough to
warrant bringing it before this body."

He paused, his eyes wandered and focused on an elegant, distinguished man.
The contemptuous sneer returned. "It is almost too terrible to bring before
you, but I have been given proof that one of us was substantially involved
in the war that only recently wrecked the planets Rhommamool and Osarian.
Driven by selfish greed, this "Senator" helped provoke the animosities
between the peoples of both planets, helped support Nom Anor's warmongering
government, and is ultimately just as much to blame for what has happened as
is Nom Anor himself."

"Certainly you're aware of the gravity of your accusations, Senator Rodan,
and are confident that what you call proof will withstand investigation by
our own Intelligence division," Leia's eyes had gone as cold as glaciers.

She had been on Rhommamool before the war between the two planets had
erupted. Back then, shortly before the Yuuzhan Vong had made their first
moves, the former Princess had been trying to reach the leader of the
Rhommamoolians on a diplomatic level, to prevent bloodshed and enable
diplomacy to solve the dispute peacefully.

At this point, neither Leia nor her sister-in-law Mara who had accompanied
her had known Nom Anor to be a Yuuzhan Vong, sent to their galaxy to stir
trouble and distract the government on Coruscant from the invasion force
that was starting to form at the edges of the only galaxy known to them.

They had met him thinking he was just another deluded human politician whose
ideals had gone extreme. Extreme enough to slaughter droids and provoke war,
knowing that his planet would be hopelessly undefended and ill-equipped to
win against richer, stronger Osarian.

The thought that a New Republic Senator had not only cashed in on this
conflict, but had even outright supported an extremist government the likes
of Anor's Red Knights of Life seemed outrageous and let her blood go cold.
Treachery was the worst enemy of peace - and it seemed so dreadfully
abundant among sentient beings.

Fyor Rodan's smile seemed to be frozen on his face, as unnatural as his
whole faked attitude of honest outrage was.

"Of course I'm aware of this, Your Excellency. New Republic Intelligence
will just confirm what I'm telling you today. And let me say beforehand,
Leia, that I'm truly sorry to have to bring this to your attention."

The Alderaanian beauty frowned. The pure hypocrisy in the other's voice
didn't surprise her. The fact that he seemed to think his revelations would
affect her personally did, however. Carefully keeping her contempt for the
man out of her voice, she levelled him with a cool stare, "It is time then,
Fyor, to give us facts instead of flowery words."

Rodan gave a short bow and turned his attention back to the whole of the
assembled, "Honoured Senators, Your Excellency, I hereby demand an
investigation of Senator Cal Omas of Alderaan."

The silence was complete. There were no gasps and whispers this time.
Instead, hundreds of faces were gaping and staring in stunned awe, trying to
comprehend what they had heard. In politics, everyone was willing to suspect
his competitors of the worst of atrocities and seemed to have a low opinion
of about anyone but himself. But Cal Omas was the last man anyone would have
ever accused of supporting warmongering tendencies on any planet.

Until now, at least.

Leia sank back into her chair, feeling as if someone had just sent a
high-energy stun bolt right into her head. Luke behind her was fixing the
Alderaanian Senator with a gaze of disbelief full of questions and sent her
a gentle nudge in the Force, trying to ease her shock. Cal Omas was a friend
to her, her brother knew as much, and hearing him accused like this hurt.

Leia's first instinct was to call Rodan a liar and be done with these
charges. Ridiculous didn't even come close to describe them. But she didn't.
She didn't because she knew someone of Fyor's reputation would not
jeopardize his position by bringing up unfounded accusations. On the
contrary, if she reached out with the Force, she could feel that the
Commenorian was absolutely sure that what he was saying was nothing but the
truth.

She sent a helpless gaze towards the Alderaanian booth, waiting for her
long-time friend to step up and defend himself. It hurt her physically and
she felt Luke's shock as Cal Omas kept sitting in his seat, his face pale
and stony. His eyes met both the President's and the Jedi Master's, but
there was no message in them.

Feeling as if her blood had turned to ice and willingly accepting Luke's
support as he was wrapping her into his Force presence, Leia stood once
again. She didn't know how she managed to keep the tremble from her voice,
but she was grateful for it. Impartiality was her duty. No matter how much
it sickened her.

"Senator Omas, do you want to defend yourself against Senator Rodan's
accusations?"

"Not at present, no, Your Excellency."

Now the gasps and discussions erupted all over the rows as if a bubble had
burst. A refusal to defend yourself was admitting guilt, was it not? In the
minds of most of the Senators, this was definitely the case.

Leia's heart still refused to accept what reason was telling her. As things
were, though, she could not listen to her heart. Not yet.

"You are aware that if you refuse to defend yourself, it is my duty to have
you placed under arrest for the time being and sanction a full investigation
into your life and business matters. This very moment."

Fyor Rodan was looking on with a gleeful twinkle in his eyes that made Leia
want to strangle him then and there, but she quickly looked away. For once,
his intrigues didn't seem to be aimed at her, but that didn't mean he would
not jump at the chance of seeing her dissolve and claim she was playing
favourites.

"I know this, Your Excellency."

It took Leia a moment to find a voice strong enough to continue, "So be it,
then."

*~~

"Senator Kele has some nerve." Niuk Niuv of Sullust said hours later, when
night had engulfed the city planet and he and his peers had retreated to
Fyor Rodan's suite.

Their host grinned and nipped at his exquisite green wine. Ironically, it
was an old Alderaanian vintage and he would have lied had he claimed not to
thrive on the irony of it all.

"We don't need to bother about this Senator and his petty little planet. His
ridiculous petition will be nothing but advantageous for us."

The Quarren Senator Pwoe nodded, "That is true. However, accusing Cal Omas
is a dangerous game, Fyor. Leia Organa Solo is befriended with him and she
will do her utmost to clear his name. And if she does, Skywalker will, too."

Rodan waved the objection away, "The information I've got is reliable. Omas
is guilty. I trust my source without question. And you should, too."

"It would be easier," the Sullustan said, "if you told us the name."

The Senator of Commenor smiled a little broader, "When the time has come,
Niuk, you will learn. And you will realize why I never doubted him. Until
then, let's enjoy the downfall of one of our worst adversaries on the floor
of galactic politics."

To Be Continued

In The Shadows - Chapter 3

By Sienn (2004)

PG-13

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Spoilers: See Chapter 1

The sky above Coruscant City was filled with speeders and vessels of all
kind on this sunny spring afternoon. Life went on for all those people out
there - to them, the Senate of the New Republic and the Chief of State were
figures of justice and an insurance for prosperity and peace. Hardly any of
the average citizens were aware of the amount of intrigues and schemes that
dictated the life of so many a politician. The fact that the Senators stood
for millions of lives and had made it their duty to ensure their well-being
was not a guarantee that they were indeed working for anyone else but
themselves.

Greed, envy and jealousy were as present in the Senate as they were in every
other institution. Sometimes, Leia Organa Solo thought - not without a
certain bitterness - that the amount of despicable individuals was
disproportionately bigger in politics than anywhere else.

Charisma could blend many that were seeking someone to take their sorrows
and their problems from them and so it was more seldom that someone with
true integrity was elected as a planet's representative than someone with a
quick and intelligent tongue and a lot of influence.

Fyor Rodan of Commenor was one of these individuals. Born to wealthy parents
on one of the most influential planets in galactic industry, he had been
privy to an education at the best and most expensive schools. The way into a
leading position on his homeworld had been laid open before him by relatives
and friends of his father whose approval and support had either been genuine
or bought.

Eloquent and perceptive of the things his people needed and wanted to hear,
he had quickly risen to the rank of Senator and ever since he had made his
appearance on Coruscant, he had stood for the self-proclaimed superiority of
the Core Worlds and for the anti-Jedi sentiment.

Following the war against the Yuuzhan Vong and the role of the Jedi Order in
the New Republic's victory, he had kept a low profile, bereft of most of his
peers and with a head of government that was clearly pro-Jedi.

It should not have surprised her that he had turned to another target after
it had proven impossible to further bug her brother Luke's Order without
ridiculing himself. And still, the accusations he had brought forth against
the Alderaanian Senator Cal Omas had hit her unexpected and ever since they
had been mentioned, three days ago, things had progressed quickly. On all
fronts.

To her utter dismay, Cal Omas had refused to see her. The former Princess
had applied for a permission to visit him in the penitentiary as soon as New
Republic Intelligence had declared this possible, but the older Alderaanian
had had one of his most trusted secretaries deliver a confidential message
in which he had asked her not to come - and in which he had laid bare what
he said had happened. He insisted on his innocence, yet claimed that
defending himself at this point would do him no good.

Leia softly shook her head and traced the small holo cube with her fingers.
If what he was saying was true, then Cal was definitely right. The problem
was to determine whether he spoke the truth. And although Leia held a fierce
loyalty for her friends, she could not simply let her heart decide for her.
Cal Omas would not be the first to fall prey to greed and the spell of
wealth and he would not be the first to take the fatal step of putting your
own pleasure before the life of others'.

A soft presence flickered to life within her and Leia straightened. The
affair around her fellow Alderaanian was not the only problem that demanded
her attention and even in extreme situations, the usual paperwork and
administrative matters that were included in a position like hers didn't
diminish.

At times like this, she was grateful that problems of this sort didn't rest
solely on her shoulders and that she could count on people she loved and
trusted to stand by her side and do their best to help solve the latest
crisis on the horizon.

Minutes later, the door to her office slid open and her aide Alole poked her
head in, gracing the Chief of State with a smile, "They're here, Your
Excellency."

Leia motioned to her to let them in and it didn't take long for her family
to file into the room. Her husband Han Solo pressed a kiss to her lips and
both Luke and Mara hugged her as a way of greeting before they all settled
in.

While the petite Alderaanian had done her best to shed light on the
situation around Cal Omas, her brother Luke and his wife Mara had sighted
the material the Senator of Ord Radama, Anandan Kele, had brought with him
to Coruscant and considered his plea for Jedi mediators. Han, for his part,
had kept in touch with Talon, occupying himself with pushing the
investigations into Senator Niuk Niuv's and Senator Pwoe's business
backgrounds forward.

When they had sat on their balcony two days ago, enjoying an excellent wine
from Corulag, the Corellian had told her that he was sure Rodan was jutting
his ambitions together with those of the Sullustan Senator and the Quarren
representative and Leia tended to agree with him. Friendship might not exist
with people like that, but if they had common goals and thought they could
personally profit from a situation, they would join forces willingly.

Leia leant back in her chair suppressed a sigh, "So, what have we got?"

Han spoke up first, trying to find a comfortable position in the guest
chairs. He had never particularly liked them and was pressing her to choose
others. Her beloved rogue stood for the theory that people looked grim
sitting in her office simply because the chairs were uncomfortable. Leia
doubted that, but her predecessor had NOT had the best taste in the matter,
so much she had to concede. However, choosing new furniture had not been one
of her priorities as of late.

"Karrde's having his people keep their eyes and ears open, but he says he
needs more information. More details. The possible directions to go in are
simply too numerous as that he could narrow it down further. Which is why he
asked Luke to send out Jedi."

"So nothing new on this front." Leia summarized, feeling disappointment
settle down in her gut. "Luke?"

Her brother sighed softly, "I contacted Warmaster Tsavong Lah to try and get
a feeling of how the Supreme Overlord would take a request to travel through
their space. I kind of hoped they would agree if we just promised the
Radaman ships would trespass far away from the inhabited planets so that the
populace would not even notice mechanic ships had ever intruded in their
cluster."

He shook his head, "The Warmaster made it very clear that there is but a
slim chance that Shimrra would agree to this and if the New Republic should
press the matter, they would see it as a breach of the truce and defend
themselves."

"And of course they'd have every right to do so," Mara interjected. "We gave
them that cluster and gave them autonomy. No one can force them to open
their space to interstellar travel."

Leia nodded slowly, "Of course. I suppose it didn't really help to describe
the situation on Ord Radama to them?"

"Pity is not a concept they understand. In fact, they didn't really believe
me anyway."

Han sat up a little straighter in surprise and focused on his
brother-in-law, "Why not? Why should you lie?"

Luke rose and made a few steps, his agitation clearly visible. The delicate
nature of any contact with the Yuuzhan Vong, especially one like this, was
not lost on the Jedi Master. "They don't think I lie, but they are not sure
I haven't been lied to. They asked me to vouch for the truth of Kele's
claims with my honour."

"What?!" Leia had risen now, too, and indignance was pouring off her in
waves.

Mara snorted, "Of course he couldn't. And they knew he would not. It seems
ridiculous, but the fact that Luke didn't pushed the opinion they have of
him even higher. Not that this helps us in any way right now."

Her husband shot her an ironic smile, "It does. The more respect they have
for me, the more chances I'll have to get them to agree to our request."

"If they ever let you talk to the Supreme Overlord, that is." Han remarked,
his face filled with doubt.

Luke shrugged, "As it is, bringing this before him in the present form will
be useless. He'd laugh into my face."

"Let his amphistaff spit in it is more like it," Han said, standing up, too.
"What are you going to do about it?"

The Jedi Master crossed his arms before his chest, "To guarantee to the
Yuuzhan Vong that this is a genuine request for help and not pretence by the
New Republic to invade their cluster, I won't have any choice but to go to
Ord Radama and get a picture of the situation with my own eyes."

"I thought Kele has given you full access to the data he brought." Leia
reminded, frowning up at her brother. Unlike most of her family, she had
early on in her life found that she could think best while being seated. If
her body was comfortable, her mind could do its work quicker and more
efficient. Or, she mused, it was using this as the perfect excuse to rest
after three nights of fitful sleep at best.

Mara cocked an eyebrow, "Oh, he has. I've gone over it and the data seems to
confirm what he has told us. But data can be manipulated. He could have
exaggerated when he described the degree of poverty his people are living
in. The possibilities are endless."

The beautiful face of the Alderaanian Princess darkened, "I'm really getting
fed up with these tales of corrupt Senators, you know. Kele didn't make the
impression to be particularly eager to ask for help."

"Which just makes me warier, Leia." Luke put his hands on her desk and leant
forward, "I'm not accusing Kele of anything, but the mix of feelings I got
from him during the Senate session was odd. I cannot help but think there's
more to this. In any case, if I go to Ord Radama, maybe I'll be able to find
a way around pursuing the matter of a space lane through the Vong cluster.
It'd take the danger out of these negotiations."

"Yeah." Han said slowly. "Luke is right, Leia. The Yuuzhan Vong are quick to
freak and if they decide they feel attacked, we'll be back to war in no time
and everything we've managed to build up in the past few years has been in
vain."

Leia kept her quiet for a moment, then nodded to her brother, "I doubt the
Advisory Council is going to have any objections to a fact-finding mission.
Which brings us to the next problem - Cal Omas."

Silence fell over the room when the awkward topic was mentioned. It was Han
who broke it in the end, fixing his wife with a pointed look. "If he's
guilty, there's not much of a problem."

Leia glared at him, "Cal is not guilty."

Mara cocked an eyebrow. "What makes you so sure? He hasn't defended
himself."

"He had his reasons."

Han snorted, "I bet!"

The petite woman finally stood and put her hands on her hips, "I don't
understand why you are so sure the charges are true, Han. You know Cal. You
like him."

The Corellian spread his arms wide, "He was over for dinner a couple of
times and he seemed to be nice enough. I have been betrayed by people I
trusted more. And NRI says they can't find anything that makes them think
what they have is faked. I don't understand why YOU refuse to believe him
fallible."

Leia pressed her lips together and was about to give a retort when Luke
interrupted their dispute, his voice calm and composed. "Did you speak to
him already, Leia? What did he say?"

His twin sister grimaced, "He didn't want to see me."

"There you go." Han murmured.

"That has nothing to say, Han, he."

"Leia, you have to admit that it doesn't help the impression he projects if
he refuses to defend himself." Mara said softly. Her jade eyes were
sparkling and alive, even if tinged with worry.

Luke leant back against the wall and closed his eyes for a moment, "What
makes you so sure he's innocent?"

Silence ensued anew and all of a sudden, Han sat forward and pierced his
wife's face, "You are NOT sure he's innocent!"

"Han."

"I can't believe it. Here you go and tell me I'm supposed to believe him no
matter what and you're doubting him yourself!" He paused and every trace of
anger vanished from his voice as he continued with affection, "That is just
so typical."

Leia smiled at him, "You know I need to bait you to get my inspiration. Your
mind works best if you're angry."

Han refused to reply and instead decided to put up a show of being peeved.

Luke chuckled, then refocused on his sister. "So?"

The Chief of State narrowed her eyes, "The thing is that I want to believe
he's innocent because I like him and because I cannot see how I could have
misjudged him so badly. When his personal aide told me he didn't want to see
me, she gave me a holo cube he recorded and on which he explained to me what
had happened. He begged me to believe him."

"What DID happen?" Mara demanded to know, resting her elbows on her knees
and leaning forward.

Leia folded her hands in her lap, "Apparently, he was approached by someone
who called himself Ethmak Dren and claimed to be the representative of an
association that funnels contracts to small transportation companies on Ord
Mantell. His credentials and his background were spotless - Cal had it
checked by his people. Or so he says. According to Dren, the decision which
company would eventually do the transports that were agreed upon wouldn't be
made for a while, because it took into account the situation of all members
of the association - Byskaly Enterprises. The whole thing looked good
enough, so Cal signed two contracts. One assuring Dren and Byskaly
Enterprises their share of the profit and one giving them the right to chose
the company that would do the transports."

"But he didn't know that he was signing a contract with an illegal weapons
manufacturing plant on Nar Shadaa and the Red Knights of Life, the
Rhommamoolian government. Whoever lured him into this trap has enough funds
to draw from to hire an expert faker who used Omas's own signature and put
it under two contracts he has never seen. Am I right?" Mara gave a sardonic
smile and shook her head, "No offence, but your Cal Omas can't be really
sharp, Leia."

The former Princess gritted her teeth, "He was too trusting. And he has a
history with Ord Mantell. His family has been trying for decades to help
smaller companies survive on that planet, against the overwhelming abundance
of illegal shadow businesses that barely leave them enough room to exist. He
had no reason to be particularly doubtful."

"But you do not believe him entirely." Han stated, putting just enough
satisfaction into his voice to irk his wife.

Leia pursed her lips, "There's always the chance he's lying. Which is why I
want you to find out whether he says the truth."

Han sat back in shock and stared at her, "ME?"

The Chief of State nodded, "Yes, you. I cannot go on a mission like that at
the moment and Luke is tied up with the Ord Radama matter. There's no one I
trust more like you, Han. So take whatever you need and find out whether Cal
has betrayed us or not."

The Corellian put his chin in the cup of his left hand and stared into
emptiness for a moment,

"What about Intelligence? They're going to be okay with me doing their job?"

Leia nodded, "I talked to them. As long as you share what you learn with
them the moment you find it, they'll do the same. It's hard to believe, but
your reputation precedes you, Han."

"'Course it does. I'll need some help, though. When's the trial going to
begin?"

"In two weeks."

Han grimaced, "Splendid. Wedge is on a family vacation, the Rogues are tied
up on border patrol, the kids are on Yavin IV working with the younger Jedi
initiates and Lando is on Sacorria with Tendra and can't be here before the
trial is put into motion." He grinned and turned his head, "That leaves
magnificent Miss Jade to accompany me."

"Mistress Jade Skywalker for you, Solo." Mara's eyes twinkled with mischief
before she grew serious, "But I'm sorry, I can't. I'll go with Luke."

The Jedi Master started and turned big eyes on his wife, "Mara, I actually
thought."

"Luke," She interrupted him, "you don't have a clue about trading matters.
I've made a living of them for years. A very good living, too."

Luke made a face, "I was actually planning to take Swilja Fenn with me.
She's studied economy for a couple of years."

"Swilja Fenn?" Han smiled at his wife and adopted a smug expression as she
rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. "Is that the lovely Twi'lek Jedi
you've recently knighted?"

His brother-in-law smirked, "Yes, that's her."

"Well," The Corellian drawled, shooting Leia another look, "I can take her
with me. Never hurts to have someone with a lightsaber around, right?"

Luke shrugged. "Fine with me. What about Ben?"

"I can take him." Leia offered. "With Han gone and Anakin, Jaina and Jacen
at the Academy, I'll be happy to have company. I don't spend enough time
with my nephew anyway."

The Jedi still seemed doubtful, but in face of the arguments of both his
wife and sister, there was not much he could say. Although he didn't expect
the mission to Ord Radama to be anything but boring and filled by the study
of statistics and a couple of sight-seeing tours, Ben was still too young
for such a long trip. And once on planet, they would have to find a
babysitter and wouldn't have another choice but hire someone they didn't
know. Which was always making him uncomfortable.

And it wasn't as if he wasn't going to enjoy the company of his wife. They
hadn't had all too much opportunity to be for themselves since their son had
been born. It was wonderful to have Ben and Luke considered himself an
all-around happy man, but that didn't mean he couldn't take advantage of
having some time off with Mara. Even if their stay on Ord Radama would have
them busy, the trip to the planet would take some time, seeing that it was
situated halfway across the galaxy.

Ultimately, there was nothing except his overprotectiveness that spoke
against Mara accompanying him.

His wife smiled at him, having followed the line of his thoughts, and Luke
returned the gesture.

Leia nodded, "It's settled then. Let's put down the details, and off we go.
The sooner we've taken care of all this, the sooner I feel better."

*~~

The news had reached him minutes ago. Dusk was sending reddish tinted rays
into his office as Anandan Kele stared at the display of his personal
communication unit. The Jedi Master had let his secretary know that he
wished to accompany him to his homeworld. It was entitled a fact finding
mission and his wife, the infamous Mara Jade Skywalker, would accompany him.

Anandan was not very versed in intergalactic politics. He had been on
Coruscant for five years, but Ord Radama was too small as that it would have
been incorporated into any of the big groups of worlds that generally stuck
together and tried to help each other out about bills and whatever was the
problem of the day.

He knew, though, that a fact finding mission in this context meant that
either the Jedi or the Senate or the Yuuzhan Vong were not willing to
believe his descriptions about his people's situation without making sure to
have seen it with their own eyes.

The humanoid's pointed ears twitched in a mix of annoyance and sorrow. They
would find he had not lied. Ord Radama's stand was precarious and outside
help was absolutely necessary. He had spent hours in councils with the most
gifted politicians and business people of his race to find a way out of the
problem by their own means.

The Radamans were a proud people and acutely aware of the way the Core
Worlds looked down on the smaller planets of the Outer Rim. Coruscant had
always ignored them and they had not felt much difference between the rule
of Palpatine and the one of the New Republic. They had also never sought to
get more attention and had been content to fare on their own.

Until it had become impossible to ignore the possibilities that an opening
to other planets in the vicinity could bring them, the salvation it could
possibly guarantee.

When the vote had been cast, Anandan Kele would never have thought that he
could end up in a mess like the one he found himself in at present. He had
never even guessed that there were mighty beings watching the goings-on on
little Ord Radama, waiting for the right moment to wield their influence and
threats and use them for whatever plan they were bringing into motion.

The human male that had contacted him several months ago had been suave and
mannered, obviously from the most aristocratic upbringing that you could
find, and all that he had asked Anandan to do - that he had demanded of him
to do - was within a perfectly legal framework.

Which made it all the more frustrating to be sure that whatever the desired
goal of the contact's superior was, it would be anything but legal.

Honesty had always been held high in his family and it was one of the
principles in life that the Senator held most dear. Yet if he lived by this
principle now, his planet's chance at help from the New Republic would be
forfeit. He could not risk that simply because he was having suspicions that
he was helping someone to wreck havoc in the New Republic government for a
shady reason. No matter how many clues he had to prove it.

He was bound by his oath to do what was best for the people that trusted him
and that was what he would do. It was that simple.

Anandan's ears twitched again as he keyed in the secret, private number he
had been given all those weeks ago, on an old-fashioned piece of
flimsi-plast out of perfectly manicured hands.

The haughty, sharply cut face of his contact appeared before him.

"Senator Kele. It's always a pleasure to meet you."

The warmth was false, as every smile and every gentle word had been that
this man had ever given in his presence. He reminded him, in a way, of that
dreadful person Fyor Rodan, who perceived himself as better just because he
had been born on a world situated closer to Coruscant. What people had to
live on Commenor to accept such a representative?

Anandan felt sorry for the Chief of State - she had to put up with him and
take any charge serious, even if it was ridiculous. He had talked to Cal
Omas on several occasions and the man had always made the best impressions
on him. Proof or not, Anandan was persuaded he was innocent.

His people didn't have the habit to ignore what their heart was telling them
in favour of facts that could be manipulated by anyone apt and knowledgeable
enough. Radamans trusted their instincts and they had always fared well.

He swallowed a snort. Well, not always. His instincts had told him to stay
away from this man he was facing now, but he had not possibly been able to
do so. It would have meant disaster.

"I wish I could say the same." He hissed. He might have to put up with this
for the time being, but it didn't mean he was going to pretend he was fine
with it.

The human's cold blue eyes flashed and a thin smile invaded his face, "This
whole affair will be most profitable for your planet, Senator. You will not
regret what you do."

Anandan cocked a finely wrought, thin eyebrow, "I doubt that. In fact, I'm
regretting it already now."

The smile on the other's face died, "You can always refuse, my friend," the
voice dripped with sarcasm, "if you prefer to ruin your family and spend the
rest of your life in prison."

"I'm not your friend. And I cannot refuse, as you well know."

The smile returned, "Why did you want to speak to me?"

Anandan waved his hand in frustration, "I was contacted by Jedi Master
Skywalker. He and his wife will accompany me to Ord Radama to investigate
the data I gave them. The Advisory Council already sanctioned it."

"That was fast."

"The Jedi Master's propositions usually clear the Council quickly."

The human laughed without joy. It sounded hollow and mean, "I can imagine."

The Radaman Senator bared his teeth, very aware of the effect the sharpened
cones could have on others. The very few people that had had closer dealings
with his race believed they were purposely sharpening them to seem more
dangerous because their physical appearance was barely intimidating or
respect-demanding otherwise, but Radamans were born with these teeth.

Meat didn't even belong to their diet, though. They thrived on vegetables
and fruit grown on their homeworld. But Anandan Kele had long since found
out that it was helpful to have others think there was a more savage aspect
to his nature.

"Is this what you expected?"

A barely visible eyebrow lifted, "I told you once that it is better for you
- and especially for us - if you mind youur own business. "

"Us? Am I never going to meet your superior who has so GRACIOUSLY offered my
planet a way out of the crisis?"

"Your benefactor prefers to stay in the shadows, my friend."

Kele sneered, "How humble he is."

The human didn't answer and cut the connection. Once he was left alone in
his office again, the anger left the Senator and was replaced by sadness.
Even if his instincts were wrong and he hadn't just aided some sinister
figure further its goals, he would always regret to have had to lie and
blend to save his people.

Should the beings he represented ever learn, he would never be re-elected.
In this, the Radamans resembled the Wookiees strongly.

Rubbing the base of his nose between his thumb and his index finger, he
pressed the button that would let his personal secretary know her presence
was required. Minutes later, the delicate Mrlssi tripled into the office and
looked up at him with her large, black eyes.

"Yes, Senator?"

"Have my ship readied. I will return to Ord Radama as soon as possible and
depart in two days from now." After a pause, he added, "And send an
invitation to Jedi Master Skywalker and his wife - they are welcome to
travel aboard my yacht if they wish. Let them know what meagre luxury I have
I'll gladly share."

The petite, bird-like alien whistled in approval and left the office
quietly.

Anandan folded his elegant hands. He could not go out and confide into the
Jedi Master. Even though his heart told him to do just that because albeit
he had no evidence, he was sure things were not as harmless as they seemed,
he could not willingly condemn his people to a continued life in poverty.

Luke Skywalker might forgive him, but Anandan's credibility in the Senate
would be lost. There would be no chance to gain funds and support of any
kind then.

But if he spent as much time as possible in the presence of two Jedi as
mighty as the Master and his wife, maybe they would note his discomfort and
make him talk. Which would free him in so many ways he was almost longing
for it.

*~~

"This is better than what I had expected." The distinguished voice almost
purred with satisfaction as sharp claws traced the patterns of the wood on
his desk. "Skywalker must have contacted the Yuuzhan Vong."

"Why that, Master?"

He let his chair pivot around and looked into the deep night outside the
window. "Of course he has hoped to find a quick solution to the problem.
He's moving on dangerous ground. The Yuuzhan Vong are easy to provoke. He
has to tread carefully to prevent a new armed dispute."

"I was of the impression you didn't think he'd be capable to do so."

A laugh escaped the throat of the being hidden by the deep shadows in the
room, "I underestimated both his politic potential and his stand with the
Yuuzhan Vong. It seems they hold much respect for him. Proof that they
cannot be half as bright as everyone makes them out to be."

He paused before he continued, "Have you been able to find out more about
why the Yuuzhan Vong hold Skywalker in such a high esteem."

The thin, middle-aged human lowered his head in apology, "I'm sorry, Master.
If there are files, they are well hidden. We haven't had success as of yet."

"It is of no importance. It would be an added bonus to know what exactly has
happened, but my success doesn't depend on this information."

"The Yuuzhan Vong have not declared war."

A growl sounded from the darkness, "They're not as jumpy as I expected them
to be and I think pursuing this direction will be in vain. Know, though,
that I never count on just one direction, my friend. Everything's proceeding
in acceptable parameters."

"Our next steps?"

"Contact Cros for me. Tell him I need him as soon as possible. And that I
will pay far more than what he's worth if he shows up before the end of the
week."

*~~

"I'm going to miss him terribly." Luke whispered softly. Two of the four
lights that were situated into the corners of their bedroom were shedding
their glow over the bed as the Jedi Master and his wife were sprawling on
the mattress.

Ben lay between them, nestled into his father's side, his back pressed
against his mother's chest. His blue eyes were blinking open and closed
sleepily - in a matter of seconds, he would have drifted off into his
well-deserved rest.

After the unnerving hours of preparing their trip and analysing this
uncomfortable situation with Leia and Han, Mara had treated them to a
spacious dinner and Luke had spent the rest of the evening with his son in
the garden.

The child had explored his surroundings with wide-eyed fascination, from the
first leaves that budded on the trees to the little, violet flowers that
dared brace the still frosty nights of early spring. As this excursion had
started to bore the toddler and his attention had shifted to the already
packed bags of his parents that he could glimpse through the glass doors to
the living room, Luke had taken him back in and Ben had spent the better
part of an hour trying to open the zippers.

Only dinner had been able to distract him - and Luke, who had been watching
in delight - from this highly frustrating enterprise that had peeked his
ambitions and challenged his inventiveness. Had the bags not been packed as
full as possible, the tike might have actually managed to get them open.

"I'll miss him, too." Mara breathed a soft kiss on the little boy's temple
and watched his serene face with wonder. She had never dreamt of having a
child, like so many other women did. Like Luke had done.

She had never been against the possibility either - for the most part of her
life, she had simply accepted that it was unlikely she would ever be given
the opportunity to be a mother. It hadn't been easy to find the man that she
trusted to be the father of her child either.

The redhead smiled, stretched a bit and pecked her husbands lips, "He's so
adorable. And looks exactly like I imagine you did at that age."

Luke grinned and caressed the toddler's cheek in affection. Ben had already
drifted off - it was way past his bedtime anyway. "I can show you holos. I
rescued a couple from Tatooine. We didn't use to take many, but at every
birthday Aunt Beru would insist on it. And sometimes, when Uncle Owen went
to the market, she'd take some more. We never told him, though."

He paused and for a couple of minutes, they enjoyed the silence of the night
and the soft breathing of the child.

"He's as beautiful as you, though." Luke finally stated.

Mara laughed, "The only thing he's got from me is his fascination with
weapons. He was trying to make off with your lightsaber again after dinner."

The Jedi Master smiled, "Good thing I modified it way back when Jaina and
Jacen were born. Even if he manages to get it without us noticing, nothing
can happen."

The former Emperor's Hand took one of her son's small hands into hers and
pressed it gently, "He is starting to use the Force, Luke."

Her husband nodded, pride shining in his eyes. "I know. I saw him try
pushing the soap from the bathtub when I washed him at Leia's earlier this
week."

Mara shook her head. Red hair was flying. "I don't know what it is with men
and soap. Do you LIKE being grimy?"

The former farmboy from Tatooine shrugged, mischief glinting in his eyes,
"It makes us feel manly, you know."

The redhead snorted, "Sure."

After another few minutes, Luke rose carefully and picked the toddler up.
Ben never woke and Mara watched how her husband went down the corridor to
put the child into bed. She had really never expected to find the man to
found a family with.

But she had found him. She had found Luke and she was happier than ever
before in her life. Not only had she realised that being a mother was the
most fulfilling duty she had ever had to perform, she had also come to see
that there was hardly a better father to be found than Luke.

On the contrary, with him, you always ran the risk to have him spoil Ben. He
was so fascinated with the child that it was at times funny to watch,
especially in face of the fact that he had been close to see Jaina, Jacen
and Anakin grow up.

The wonderment he felt now, though, was different. This time, it was his
son. And although he was bashful about every similarity, the pride he felt
about them was filling his heart time and again and made his eyes shine in a
way Mara had never seen on him before.

The older Ben grew, the more she felt how Luke wished for another child. The
same wish had grown within her. She had waited for a time to talk to him
about it and maybe this was it. Mara didn't allow her thoughts to drift to
the problems that awaited them on Ord Radama or the tragedy around Cal Omas.
All this had nothing to do with her family. It had nothing to do with her
and Luke as a couple - as parents.

When Luke returned and sat back down on the bed, informing her that Ben had
not woken at all when he had tugged him in, she scooted over, cupped his
face with both her hands and kissed him softly.

Azure eyes focused on her in surprise, "What was that for?"

Mara smiled and pecked his lips again, "I'm in the mood."

The Jedi Master's face lit up with a smile as he tugged her onto the
mattress next to him. Mara settled her head onto his chest and he started
caressing through her hair, as he always did. It came almost automatically,
without a conscious thought from his part.

"Luke?"

"Hmmm?"

"I've been thinking a lot these past few weeks."

Curiosity exploded within his spirit and she felt him reach out
instinctively. He quenched the reflex quickly and waited for her to tell him
herself. "About what?"

"About you and me and Ben," she propped herself up on an elbow and looked
down on him. "And about having another child."

Luke eyes grew as wide as saucers as he sat up himself and stared at her in
wonderment, "And?" His voice almost seemed frail with excitement.

"I know you'd love to have another one." Mara said softly, reaching out with
her right and caressing his face.

"And you? Would you love to?" He breathed, whispered almost.

Instead of an answer, she smiled at him, took his hand and kissed his
fingertips, one after the other.

"Oh, Mara, I."

She tugged on his arm and his lips were on hers before she could let loose
the laugh that wanted to escape her throat.

To Be Continued

--------------------------
In The Shadows
--------------------------

By Sienn

Rating: PG - 13

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Spoilers: See Chapter 1

----------------
Chapter 4
----------------

As the capital of Ord Radama, Angasa spread over three-fourth of the largest
of seven continents that harboured the planet's exploding population.
Skyscrapers small only by Coruscant standards rose into the sky. They had
been built at a time when the planet had still prospered and grown and Jedi
Master Luke Skywalker imagined them shiny and perfect in all their
splendour.

The fascination of the new and modern had long worn down, though, and as his
gaze swept over the city as he sped through it, he could easily pick out the
signs of deterioration visible wherever he looked. There was no building
that was completely inhabited. Shattered windows had been patched up with
wood or left wide open and paint was falling off many a wall.

The people hurrying about their daily business on the streets were a mixed
crowd - the few that were lucky enough to have a regular income stood out
against the many that made do with what they had and queued before the shops
that offered goods of lesser quality to achievable prices. Frustration and
helplessness permeated the Force, barraging against his senses, as the
Radamans tried to tackle what destiny had lain upon their shoulders.

In a melancholic, bittersweet way, it reminded Luke of his homeplanet
Tatooine. The only difference being that the desert planet he had grown up
on had never known the prosperity or the overpopulation that Ord Radama had
been graced with - or cursed with, depending on the angle from which you
looked at it.

"We will soon arrive at the House of Ruling." Anandan Kele's silky voice
sounded from the driver's seat of the inconspicuous landspeeder that was
taking them through the city towards the seat of the planet's government.
Both Luke and Mara had been surprised at the lack of pompous protocol or
luxury when they had arrived on the planet in the morning. It was seldom
that the poverty of a society reached up into the highest ranks in politics
and whereas the notion that the ruling class on Ord Radama seemed to be much
more in touch with the common people than on most other worlds instilled
admiration in the Jedi, it drove home the dire situation they were facing
even more.

"You will be shown to your quarters so you can unpack and refresh yourself.
I'm sure what we offer won't live up to what you're usually entitled to, but
it's the best we can provide."

"I don't doubt you'll be able to fashion us with everything we need." Luke
replied gently. "But I was under the impression that we would meet up with
the parliament immediately. The sooner we are able to assemble a global
picture of the situation, the sooner we will be able to help your people,
Senator."

Kele shook his head, a soft smile on his features. The gesture never reached
his eyes, though, and once again, Luke felt a soft flutter of the Force at
the back of his mind. He had met many desperate people in the course of his
life - most of them had not been politicians. Many planets in the galaxy
struggled with similar problems as Ord Radama, but their representatives in
the Senate usually didn't get emotionally involved to a degree that robbed
them of their cheerful nature. At least not if the situation on their
homeplanet didn't endanger their own position.

That made Anandan Kele either an exceptional and rare kind of individual or
a very good actor. The Jedi Master had not yet decided which alternative he
wanted to believe in.

"We Radamans are not fond of hectic, Master Skywalker, and are a proud
people. My compatriots in the parliament did not like that I had to ask the
New Republic for help. They are less touchy about contacting the Jedi, but
they still feel uncomfortable and are worried about their reputation."

"If that is their position, then why did they vote for you to present your
cause to the Senate?" Mara asked, drawing her eyebrows together in
confusion.

Kele steered their vehicle into a broad alley framed to both sides by huge,
massive trees of silver bark and deep auburn leaves. They seemed as delicate
and elegant as the Radamans themselves and the former Emperor's Hand
wondered how a world of such humble, but distinct beauty could feel so wrong
to her.

She had seen her husband's cobalt eyes scrutinize the image of the Senator
that was mirrored in the speeder's forward viewport and the way his features
had tensed had told her that Luke, too, was feeling everything but
comfortable on this mission.

At Kele's answer, the frown on the Jedi Master's face deepened even more and
Mara had to quench the urge to lean over and press a kiss between his eyes
to make it vanish. Such open displays of affection were of course not
appropriate while they were on such an assignment.

"Radaman politics are not comparable to the way things are done on most
other planets. The parliament was outvoted by the populace itself. This has
seldom happened in our history, especially in such a context, but the common
people are long past any notion of exaggerated pride. I have done my best to
persuade them of the prudence of our intentions, too."

"Then you must be relieved that things are going smoothly on that front."

There was a short hesitation, barely discernible, and most would have missed
it entirely. Luke, though, had been watching out for it, prompted by the
unexplainable feeling that Anandan Kele was contradicting himself with every
word. Not on a level of plain facts, but on a level of emotions.

The Senator's obsidian eyes didn't give the smallest hint of what was going
on beneath the carefully maintained façade of grateful politeness as he
nodded and there was no sign that he had noted Luke's dubious expression.

Mara extended her Force senses and tried to pinpoint what was bugging her
husband. Kele was a riddle to her, but that did not come unexpected. Most
politicians had developed ways to keep their innermost thoughts and
motivations secret. Any strong-willed person could learn to shield - it took
patience, a good deal of stubbornness and a rigid self-discipline. A
determined Force probe would need less than a minute to break through these
safety measures, but there was nothing that warranted such a rude intrusion
into another being's mind right now.

The Force was still and peaceful, allowing her glimpses of the animal life
in the forests that she could see on the far horizon. There was an
underlying current of desperation and hopelessness that radiated from the
city they had meanwhile left - not an uncommon occurrence on a planet as
profoundly unstable as Ord Radama.

Luke, for his part, still seemed troubled to her and his eyes were focused
on the back of Anandan Kele's head. He was more attuned to the way others
were reflected in the Force. In the past, there had been many occasions on
which he had picked up feelings before they had come to her attention - if
they had at all. Mara wondered what it was that he was picking up from the
non-human Senator.

'Luke?' She queried gently over their Force bond, careful to not even look
into his direction. Instead, she gazed out the window and at the group of
stately buildings that was coming into view in the distance. Massive and
hewn from some sort of bronze marble, they were of a splendour that must
have once graced all of Angasa and had now retreated to a few guarded places
where it was maintained with all the fervent dedication of a people
determined to keep what little of its treasures it still had.

'Wait. Feel,' was all he answered in return, his voice in her head laced
with suspicions that she had not expected to be there. Doing as he had told
her, she extended her focus and concentrated on the street ahead. A large
arc made of the same bronze marble as the buildings had been manufactured to
frame a fragile-looking iron gate that opened at their approach. As they
passed through Mara could see that the stone was worked into a complex
structure of flowers and leaves from whose midst the crest of the planet
sprung like a very special blossom indeed.

Despite the fact that his attention lay largely on the street ahead, Anandan
Kele had noticed her admiring looks and smiled for the first time in genuine
joy. "This is the Yncha. Our national flower. Her scent is famous and she is
an important ingredient for the local chocolate. I'd love to have you taste
our sweets later on, Master Jedi. They are extraordinaire."

"We'd love to." Mara answered honestly. Sweets were something both she and
Luke had a weakness for and a universe with millions of individual cultures
offered an indescribable amount of different tastes and splendid creations.
Luke nodded his assent and shortly thereafter, Kele brought the speeder to a
halt and they disembarked.

A broad, gleaming white stairway led up to a wooden portal carved in a
pattern similar to the arc they had cleared some moments ago. Kele gestured
for them to follow him and started to make his way up the steps. It was then
that a whiff of malevolence passed by her in the Force, burning and intense
despite of the tight cage it was locked in.

The former Emperor's Hand scanned the area with quick glances. Kele had
reached the middle of the flight of stairs as she caught a glittering
reflection on the rooftop of the adjoining building. "Luke," she hissed, but
he had already reacted.

A lance of brilliant red shot out from the reflection's centre and bounced
harmlessly off Luke's green blade as the Jedi Master stepped right into its
path with astonishing speed. Kele gasped and stumbled against the railing,
his eyes wide and his shock obvious. The blaster had been aimed directly at
his head.

"What…" He began, but was interrupted as another deadly stream of light
pierced the still afternoon and prompted a barrage of others to rain down on
them from what seemed to be every point on the rooftops that offered even a
meagre chance to actually hit something.

In a fluid motion, Mara activated her azure blade and intercepted three
shots aimed at the Senator's back. Shouts from the opposite end of the
compound reached her ears and she felt several presences snap to full
attention. A quick glimpse showed at least a dozen Radaman guards dashing
over a carefully maintained lawn toward them.

The redheaded beauty snorted at the obvious lack of proper security and
coordination and at how atypical it was. Off-hand, she didn't know a
politician except for her sister-in-law who didn't make a point of having
himself be guarded as if he was the most important man in the galaxy.

The onslaught of blaster fire continued and intensified even, but between
her and Luke, Kele was as safe as he could get. She saw her husband nudge
him up the steps and ere long they had reached the safety of the portal and
slipped through it into the hall of the building.

Outside, the guards had opened return fire - unacceptably late, in Mara's
opinion - and started to shout orders to their colleagues rushing in from
other parts of the complex. Shaking her head, the female Jedi turned to the
Senator, barely breathing faster after the incident. "You did not tell us
that the situation was that volatile on Ord Radama - for you."

Anandan Kele had paled visibly and shook his head in puzzlement, "That is
because I didn't know, Master Jedi. I've never had… I mean, I didn't know I
had… Someone wanted to kill me!"

Luke had lowered his blade, its tip pointing toward a highly polished black
floor, and scanned their surroundings. The hall was wide and rimmed with
doors that led to other parts of the building. In the middle, two staircases
spiralled up towards the second floor that sported a similar design and a
delicate iron railing.

"Do you have any idea who they are?" He asked while he gestured with his
chin to a more protected alcove on the opposite side of the chamber, far
away from any window and with a good vantage point to keep an eye on the
stairs. Whoever had stolen up onto the rooftop to kill Anandan Kele would
have to come down sooner or later. Judging by the inferno of deadly light
that was coming their way, Luke supposed it would be rather sooner than
later.

Flustered, Kele shook his head, "I really don't have the slightest inkling."
He calmed enough to give Luke and Mara a serious look out of his obsidian
eyes. "You saved my life. I'm forever indebted."

"Don't speak of it," Luke returned quickly, then he focused on his wife,
"Mara?"

The redhead had stayed slightly behind to peer through a window out into the
afternoon sun. Her jade eyes were narrowed slightly as she took in the angle
of the laserbeams and she extended an arm to trace an imaginary line over
the ceiling. "They're retreating. That way."

"They're going for the garden stairway." Kele supplied helpfully. "It leads
from the rooftop into the gardens behind the House. The second door from the
left gives onto a terrace." He pointed. "How they managed to neutralize the
guards I cannot tell. Master Skywalker, if we… Master Skywalker?"

The Jedi Master had already taken off towards the designated door, killing
his lightsaber in mid-run and slipping as silently as a shadow out of the
hall. Mara looked after him for a moment, contemplating whether she should
follow him. She had counted at least seven assassins. Leaving Kele without
appropriate protection was out of question, though, and as the local guards
didn't seem to be able to do their job right, she was the logical choice.

"Come on," she murmured. "Show me to your office."

The Radaman's feet started moving automatically, but he kept glancing back
to the door through which Luke had vanished. "But Master Skywalker…," he
objected.

Mara gave him a mystifying stare, "He'll be fine. There are six of them,
seven at the most."

"Seven!" The non-human breathed.

The former Emperor's Hand smiled ferally, "Yes. Not all too many. Do not
worry about my husband. Let's worry about you."

Kele nodded frantically and gestured to one of the stairways leading up onto
the second floor. "This way. And thank you again."

Mara shrugged this off, "It's our job, Senator. Get going. If they don't
choose to go through the gardens, they'll come down here, and we don't want
to be there if they do. Well," she rectified, staying close to Kele as he
made his way up the stairs in a more than cautious manner, "at least you
don't want to be."

*~~

A group of five figures was making quick progress down the stairs under the
protective fire of two of their comrades that had stayed behind on the
rooftop to keep Radaman Security at bay. Their presences were alert, their
steps determined, but careful, and their blasters levelled before them,
ready to kill whoever might interpose themselves between them and freedom.

So intently focused were they on danger awaiting them from the garden that
they never noticed the slender man that was crouching in the shadows behind
a bush sporting an abundance of golden blooms and small silver fruit.

Luke Skywalker peered out between the green leaves of his cover and frowned
not for the first time today. Unlike the Radamans that had been charged with
Kele's safety and had so blatantly bungled up the job like cadets fresh from
the academy, the assassins seemed to be professionals. Absolutely
overqualified ones, too. The Jedi Master supposed that even a drunk
Gamorrean with a vibro axe could have slipped through the perimeter and
split the Senator in two if he had really wanted to.

He waited until the last of the five had cleared the plant behind which he
cowered, then rose and cleared his throat. He could have disabled them in a
matter of seconds, but he was not fond of falling all over an enemy from
behind. It had always struck him as cowardly and very un-Jedi.

The unknowns - all male and all masked as he now noted - veered around in
unison and didn't bother to inquire about his identity. They opened up with
everything they had at once and Luke grimaced. Being an honourable fighter
usually complicated matters a lot.

His lightsaber sung through the air and he immersed himself deeply in the
Force, making the blade in his hands an impenetrable wall of energy that let
stray bolts shriek into all directions and away from him.

"I don't want to hurt any of you," He shouted through the noise. As he had
expected, this show of benevolence impressed no one and the assassins kept
retreating and emptying their weapons' power packs on him.

Luke gathered the Force around him and took hold of a couple of stones that
had been used to decorate a particularly lush assortment of flowers and
succulents a couple of meters to his right. The natural projectiles jammed
into the fleeing men's legs with something close to a landspeeder's velocity
and downed all but one. Three fell into ricocheting shots before they could
get a hold of their bodies.

A curse echoed through the air as the unlucky shooter turned on his heels
and dashed for the dense foliage that had been their destination all along.
No doubt they had their own vehicle waiting for them.

Luke made a split-second decision and let him go. The three that had been
hit by their own accompany were dead or dying, but the fourth was merely
dazed and trying to get to his feet. As he saw Luke, he struggled to get his
blaster out from under the leg of one of his pals and aim it straight at the
blond man's face.

The tip of an emerald blade stopped him dead in his tracks as it hovered in
front of his nose. Brown eyes stared in something akin to horror into the
determined face of the Jedi Master. "Don't even think of it." Luke said as
he flicked on his comlink. "Mara?"

"I'm here." She didn't ask him whether he was okay - he had felt her
supportive presence all the time in the back of his mind. They were past the
stage where they needed words to assure the other of their health and
well-being.

The Jedi allowed himself a quick smile at hearing his wife's voice. Knowing
for sure the other was unharmed was one thing. Hearing her for real was
quite another. "The situation is under control. Three were killed in
friendly fire, one got away, one I have here. Security is taking care of the
other two. How's Kele?"

"He's fine. We're in his office and haven't been bothered again."

"I'm going to be with you in a minute." With that, he cut the connection and
gestured with his blade. "Get up."

The man complied slowly, his eyes barely leaving the blade. He reached up
and took off his mask, revealing the weathered, tanned face of a human in
his mid-fifties and an ugly sneer that he aimed at Luke.

"How low the Jedi have fallen if they protect such scum."

The insult added only to Luke's puzzlement. Anandan Kele had prompted a lot
of pondering and different impressions in him, but there had been nothing in
his bearing or his political affiliation and inclination that deserved this
kind of open disgust that had obviously led this man and his friends to try
and kill the Radaman. Another riddle was, of course, the fact that this
particular assassin was no native.

Keeping his face neutral, Luke made eye contact and had the satisfaction to
see the other flinch away, his courage folding together like a house made of
sabacc cards. "After you."

The man hurried to comply.

*~~

"Here we go. Welcome to Ord Mantell, the one planet in the galaxy you least
want to visit." Han Solo's hazel eyes rested for a while on the familiar
brown sphere that was growing bigger in the viewport of the "Millenium
Falcon" and memories rushed into his mind. This planet had never been one to
bring him luck and still destiny seemed to enjoy sending him there time and
again. He swivelled the pilot's chair around and looked at the slender,
green-skinned Twi'lek woman lounging in the seat next to him. "Ever been
there?"

Swilja Fenn shook her head, her lekku flapping softly against the head of
the chair. "Never. Looks as if I haven't missed much."

The Corellian shrugged, "Depends on what you're looking for. And on who's
looking for you."

The alien woman cocked an eyebrow at him, "Any bounties on your head I
should know of?"

Han grinned, "Not to my knowledge."

At the beginning, he had been dubious to go on this mission for Leia with
someone he had never talked to. Swilja Fenn had enrolled in Yavin IV's Jedi
Academy about five years ago. As for most of the galaxy's female Twi'leks,
her life had never been easy, but unlike many of her compatriots, she had
worked her way out of the dingy milieu of slavery and exploitation a long
time before her Force sensitivity had become obvious.

This alone was testimony to her bravery. Standing up to your family and
culture was one of the most difficult things in life Han Solo could imagine.
She had attended one of Mrlsst's law schools by way of a scholarship when
she had first noticed a certain affinity to the Force. Shortly thereafter,
she had asked for a talk with Luke and joined the ranks of the Jedi.

In the course of his life, the Corellian had come to the conclusion that
some of the most complicated and difficult women in this universe where
those who had suffered from slavery and had managed to free themselves.
Fiercely independent, unbelievably suspicious and for the most part too
feministic as that a male would dare come close to them, they were hard to
work with. Twi'lek females in particular seemed to adopt a kind of
bitterness and hardness after having managed to establish themselves as
independent beings rather than dancing girls and among the Jedi there were
some who fit that category to a tee.

He had met the sisters Numa and Alema Rar but a single time and was grateful
Luke had not had the idea to pair him up with those two. They were not
hostile, but provocative, and plotting a course that brought them skimming
along close at the edge of the Dark Side. His brother-in-law had told him
that they were currently on a planet called New Plympto and as far as Han
was concerned, they could stay there for a while to come.

Swilja Fenn, on the other hand, had surprised him by being so totally not
how he had expected it. She was calm, focused, had a witty tongue and was
more comfortable showing respect to others than most former dancing girls.
Her first words had been, "It is an honor to fly with you, General Solo,"
and it had thrown him slightly off-guard. It had also flattered him, of
course, and from then on, he had been sure that they would get along just
fine.

During their transit time to Ord Mantell, they had debriefed each other on
what they knew about their upcoming mission and Han had come to the
conclusion that whereas Swilja obviously was not Luke, she would do for the
time being.

Swilja smiled, "Good. Master Skywalker said as much, but he advised me to
ask you to make sure. He said one could never know who wants your head."

Han laughed, "He knows me too well."

They sat in silence for a while until Han altered their trajectory slightly
to port and the Twi'lek Jedi leant forward with a frown, "I thought we were
going to put down in Worlport. It's there that Byskaly Enterprises allegedly
has its headquarters."

"Sure. But you can't go around and weave your lightsaber to get answers to
our questions, Knight Fenn. Before you touch down on a planet like Ord
Mantell, you better get yourself a good picture of the current situation.
Especially if you don't have a Super Star Destroyer backing you up." He
gestured down at the brownish mass of star beneath them, "Three-fourth of
its population are made up of smugglers, mercenaries, thieves, conmen… you
name it, they've got it."

"So what are we going to do? Ask the local authorities for information?"

Han shot her a strange look, "How many missions have you been on? Exactly, I
mean?"

Dark eyes blinked at him in puzzlement, "This is my first mission. I suppose
this is the reason Master Skywalker didn't want me to accompany him to Ord
Radama. The whole affair is extraordinarily delicate."

The Corellian snorted, "This one's, too, darling." Inwardly, Han sighed. The
fact that she was relatively inexperienced had probably been exactly why
Luke had wanted her to come along. His brother-in-law was perpetually
worried about his graduate students.

The Twi'lek frowned, "I told you not to call me darling."

Han smirked, "As if Luke never does."

"Of course not! Master Skywalker would never…" Swilja sat back in shock and
the former New Republic general chuckled, "Relax, I'm just kidding. Anyway,
the first rule for undercover agents is to never, ever ask authorities for
help."

She blinked again, "We're not exactly undercover. This is sanctioned by the
New Republic and the government of Ord Mantell is aware of our presence."

Han shook his head, "Well, MY first rule happens to be the same."

Something large appeared on the scopes and a smile of satisfaction blossomed
on the Corellian's features. "We're going to meet up with an old
acquaintance of mine who's currently in system. He's always up to date with
what's going on in the business. He'll be able to tell us where to go next."

"You don't expect to find anything here?"

"The only thing we will find down there is an abandoned office with a shield
over it that says 'Byskaly Enterprises' and will be about ready to fall of."

"Then how are we supposed to find them again?"

Han corrected the Falcon's course a tiny bit and shrugged, "It might not
have been more than a shadow business, but it WAS there for a while. Even if
that while was as short as a week, there'll have been enough people who have
noted it. In places like this, you can find any information you want, so
long as you know where to look for it."

Swilja looked dubious, "And your old friend does know where to look for it."

"He sure does. He was big in the business before he became respectable.
Never severed all of his ties."

The Twi'lek gestured outside, "And we're going to meet him in space?"

"'Course we won't. Too complicated. We'll dock at the Jubilee Wheel, have a
talk with him, hop down to Worlport and be on our way again. Nice and
uncomplicated."

The Jubilee Wheel was a space station in orbit around Ord Mantell. Formed
like the famous game of chance it had been named after, it was packed full
with casinos, shady hotels and black market booths. Somehow, Mantellian
Security had never managed to establish a foothold here. Not that they had
been more successful down on the planet. That was the reason why smugglers
and criminals had such an affinity for this world and why Han had been
straying away from it ever since he had hooked up with the Rebel Alliance
all that time ago.

The Wheel and the casinos on planet were the biggest attraction the Bright
Jewel Cluster had to offer aside from the hunts that were frequently held
for the aristocracy of many worlds that wanted to pride themselves on having
killed a Mantellian savrip, a native, semi-sentient species of predators.

For years certain factions of environmentalists had been working to finally
illegalize this hunt and they were making steady progress. Still, as long as
there was no official decree of the galactic Senate, the game hunters would
continue with glee.

Despite of all its flaws and dangers, Ord Mantell still counted to one of
the more prosperous Mid Rim worlds, though, and had managed to maintain a
semblance of civilisation for those determined to earn their living in an
honest way. It would always be hazardous for people like him, though.
Bounties did not vanish with the years - especially Hutt bounties and he
didn't even want to know how many of those had piled up on his head
meanwhile.

"Fine," Swilja's slight accent broke into his thoughts. "Doesn't sound all
too hard to me."

Han watched the Wheel grow bigger in front of his eyes and would have almost
sighed. "Another rule, Knight Fenn," he said softly. "These things never
sound all too hard."

*~~

"The Andyrrian Crusaders? I've never heard of them." Mara Jade Skywalker was
scrutinizing the captured assassin as he slumped on his chair, shackled at
feet and hands, and alternated between glowering at the opaque glass wall
that made up one side of his cell and allowed them to see in while he
couldn't see out and insulting the guard stationed at the entrance.

Anandan Kele folded his hands on his stomach and narrowed his pitch-black
eyes. "They are a small pirate band that occasionally harasses
intercontinental transports of grain or fruit." He explained. "The black
market for these goods booms on our world, as you can imagine."

"But if the New Republic steps in to help you, it would trickle to a halt as
the situation of the people improves." Luke mused aloud while he listened
with one ear to the interrogation the head of the House Security performed
on the prisoner.

The Radaman Senator nodded, but didn't look all too persuaded, "It still
doesn't make sense for them to kill me. They never even threatened me."

"You said you were putting up a stand in favour of contacting the New
Republic. You're working to take their chasing grounds from them." Mara
pointed out, rounding the table that occupied a good deal of the small
chamber they were in to come to stand next to her husband.

Kele shook his head, "It would be wasted energy. My station as Senator does
not give me the influence to sway such a decision. As I said, the populace
itself voted for this course of action. My voice would have changed nothing.
And will change nothing, for that matter." He watched the middle-aged men in
the cell for another few moments and added as an afterthought, "Besides,
seven people are already half their group, if Radaman Security's estimations
are correct. Why would they risk half their organisation to kill me if my
death would not help them?"

"Why, indeed." Luke murmured. Mara saw the suspicions flare to life again in
the depth of his azure orbs and knew he would speak at least some of them
out loud now. Focusing her Force senses on the Radaman in the room, she
waited.

"Senator Kele, you risked a lot when you decided to advertise seeking
outside help. Your political position must have been precarious."

The non-human smiled sadly, "That is true. Had the people not decided to
back me up, I would have lost my station."

Luke nodded, "I thought as much."

"Surely there was a lot of opposition." Mara interjected. "Maybe this
attempt came from their direction. He," she pointed through the opaque wall,
"is not Radaman. To me, that suggests someone hired off-world mercenaries."

Kele frowned, "There is a small number of humans on Ord Radama. Decades ago,
their community was quite large, but when the economy deteriorated, those
who could left. At the time, it was a positive change, as there were less
people to feed."

"Is he one of those?"

The Senator's frown deepened, "His identichip didn't check out so far.
Security's working on it."

Mara's face was unreadable as she regarded him, "I see."

"Your campaign has been a success," Luke continued as if the small
intermezzo had not taken place and Mara found her gaze zero in on her
husband's concentrated face. His eyes were nailed on the Radaman and he had
a look about him as if he was sitting in front of a floating crystal puzzle
with his nephew Anakin and were trying to put it together. "This must have
boosted your reputation. Your career is saved and Ord Radama can look
forward to better times."

"Indeed."

Luke lowered his head for a moment before he met the Radaman's stare head
on, "Why then, I wonder, are you so worried and afraid?"

An interesting question, indeed, Mara acknowledged. She had not caught these
feelings from Kele, but ever since she had set foot on this planet, she had
had a sinking feeling in her stomach. Maybe Luke had had more than that.

To both Luke's and Mara's utter surprise, Anandan Kele did not try to refute
the Jedi Master's statement. Instead, he sighed softly, "The reasons are
manifold, Master Skywalker. And of a nature that prevents me from sharing
them with you. You could call them delicate, if you want." He smiled
ruefully, then straightened.

"I suggest I let you be brought to your quarters now. You surely want to
rest and I will have food and drink wait for you. We will meet by tomorrow
afternoon - I have arranged for a formal banquet with Ord Radama's twelve
governors and after the feast, we will lay out the details of our plans for
the future and be willing to answer your questions."

Luke and Mara both gave a short bow and accompanied the humanoid out of the
room.

"Which planet are you going to trade with, Senator Kele?" Mara had asked out
of sheer curiosity, but had not expected the other's reaction. The Radaman
actually came to a halt and a mix of annoyance and frustration shot through
him. He mustered a smile, "Tomorrow, Master Jedi. If you will excuse me
now," he bowed low himself, "I will go and greet my family. Have a good rest
and if you're in need of anything, contact me." With this, he veered around
and vanished in an adjoining corridor, leaving the two Jedi alone with a
service droid that politely asked them to follow it.

They did so and kept quiet while passing through corridors and portals and
only when the door of their quarters had slid shut and they had confirmed
that they were alone did they break their silence.

"So, what was that all about?" Mara inquired while she took off her Jedi
robe and sank into a plush armchair.

Luke shook his head and turned to the window, overlooking the wide lawn, the
forest, the mounts of flowers. "This is all wrong. Don't you feel it?"

"I feel that something's wrong, yes. However, you obviously have had more
specific hunches."

The Jedi Master looked at her over his shoulder and grimaced, "He's holding
back. Holding back something important. It's eating him."

"Personal problems?" the former Emperor's Hand suggested.

Luke shook his head, "No. It's tied to all of this." He paused and a
wistful, blank look came over his features as his eyes glazed over slightly.
Mara felt him merge into the Force - or the Force merge into him. With Luke,
you could hardly tell the difference, so instinctive were his contacts with
the all-encompassing power. "He knows who the assassins have worked for."

Mara's head came up and she rose, "What?"

Luke pivoted around and the seriousness and conviction in his eyes erased
any doubt she could have possibly had. Her husband crossed his arms before
his chest and sought her gaze, "He knows who they've worked for and he knows
it's not these Crusaders."

"Then why doesn't he tell us?"

The Jedi Master smiled without humour, "That's an interesting question,
isn't it? I wonder….. pirates and smugglers have a role in another of our
current missions, too."

Mara cocked an eyebrow, "You don't want to tell me either Pwoe or Niuk hired
those mercenaries to do away with Kele, do you?"

"Why not?" Luke discarded his robe and sat down on the armrest of a small,
elegant couch.

"Why should they?" His wife countered as she came over to sit in his lap and
lay her arms around his shoulders, "It's not that I don't think them capable
of this. I just don't know why they would bother with him."

"I'm not saying it IS them," Luke explained. "I just think we can't neglect
that possibility. And why didn't he want to tell us which planet they're
going to do trade with? Why is that information so top secret he won't give
it before tomorrow evening."

"That's something that puzzled me, too," Mara admitted.

"I tell you," the former farmboy insisted, "this stinks. I just don't know
of what."

"Your usual political intrigue, love."

"No. There's more. We'll have to look out, Mara."

*~~

"Senator Kele, it is good to see you. I trust you're well?"

The Radaman glared laserbolts at his human contact, "I'm angry. You must
have forgotten to tell me that you want me disposed of after I have played
my part."

A derisive snort came over the communication unit, "Don't be ridiculous. You
had two Jedi with you. Even if my men had had orders to kill you, they
couldn't have."

"Even if they had wanted to kill me? They didn't… then why…?"

"Don't bother thinking about it, Senator. Go on with your campaign, save
your planet. Don't concern yourself with anything else."

"But…"

"No buts. Have you followed my instructions?"

Kele gritted his teeth. He hoped that one day, this would be over, and he
prayed it would leave him in a position to bring this moron before a court.
Somewhere, somehow. "Yes, I have. The Jedi were not pleased."

Blue eyes sparkled, "Naturally. But they will no doubt hone their famous
patience and not trouble you any further." The connection was cut and once
again, Anandan Kele was left alone with his frustration.

*~~

A soft tug on her hair made Leia Organa Solo laugh. She stopped brushing her
long tresses and turned. Her nephew sat on the bed and looked engrossed at
the silky, brown mass that was reaching almost down to her feet.

Small hands felt and touched in curiosity and he giggled as his aunt sat
down next to him and tickled his nose with the tips of some of her hairs.

"You have never seen me with my hair hanging open, haven't you?" Leia smiled
and took the boy onto her lap, letting him clutch more of her hair and
investigate it with the intensity only children could manage. Big, blue eyes
were filled with wonderment as it refused to keep the form of a ball he had
pressed it into and joy radiated off the little human at the sweet scent of
shampoo that swirled around him.

The former Princess of Alderaan breathed a kiss on the chubby cheek of the
toddler and softly shook her head, "Do you know how much you resemble your
father?" Ben stared at her, as he always did when she talked to him, and not
for the first time she wondered how much he understood.

"Back when we first met, your father and I, he looked just as dumbfounded as
you when he first saw me with my hair hanging open." Leia grinned at the
memory. "He had stumbled into the wrong door on Yavin IV and stared as if he
had never seen a human being in his life." The petite beauty chuckled, "You
should have seen the look on his face as I told him I'd let it grow even
longer."

Ben grinned back at her, his timing so canny that it was hard to believe he
could not yet make sense of her words. Of course, realistically seen, all he
was doing was copy her, but Leia preferred to think of it as a way of
instinctive understanding. The short flicker of happiness that had permeated
the precious baby's presence had made it clear that he had at least
understood the word 'father'.

"Princess Leia? May I come in?"

The Chief of State sighed softly and put the toddler back onto the mattress
to rise and straighten her gown, "Go ahead, 3-PO."

The golden protocol droid walked into the room and inclined his metallic
head in apology, "I'm sorry to disturb you, Mistress Leia, but this has been
brought for you. The Palace Guard said the courier insisted that the sender
wanted it delivered immediately."

Leia took the small cube from 3PO and studied it carefully. It looked
harmless enough, but she had learnt to be cautious. Especially if she didn't
know who had sent it. Neither her husband nor her brother had the habit of
sending holo-cubes.

"3PO, take Ben to bed. I'll come in a minute." She put another kiss on the
baby's face and seated the boy carefully in 3PO's embrace. Azure eyes rested
focused on her until the door of her sleeping room slid closed and she was
astounded at how much of her brother was shining through.

Once she was alone, she deposited the cube on her bed and tried to analyse
it with the Force. Of course she knew that Palace Security would have
scanned it at least a dozen times and it had probably gone through a small
myriad of tests before it had even reached 3PO's mechanical hands, but there
were things that only the Force could unveil.

As her probe turned out fruitless, she shrugged and sat down, pressing her
thumb onto a small dent and waiting for what was to come.

A holo materialised above the cube and Leia had to smile. This had been made
not all too long ago, after the peace treaty had been signed and officially
confirmed. It was a shot of her and Han, Luke and Mara, surrounded by
high-ranking dignitaries of the Senate. Supreme Overlord Shimrra had
stubbornly refused to be submitted to the eternity of the galactic archives
this way and she remembered the chuckle she had had to keep back as he had
barked at the poor photographer and scared him so profoundly that he would
have almost fainted.

Why someone would send this to her was beyond Leia, even if it brought forth
memories of a happy day full of relief and hope. However, nothing happened
without a reason, as she had learned with time, and the reason behind this
holo-cube became all too apparent.

A read hue gathered over the holo-picture, growing denser with every moment.
It converged on Luke, Han and Mara until they were barely visible. One after
the other, first her brother, then her husband, then her sister-in-law
vanished from the holo. Its background changed and the New Republic
dignitaries dissolved. Colour drained from the picture and in the end, all
that was left was her own image, sitting in the darkness as if it had been
swallowed by a black hole.

-----------------------------

To Be Continued

In The Shadows

By Sienn

Spoilers: See Chapter 1

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Rating: PG-13

Chapter 5

The reception hall of the Radaman House of Ruling was nestled into a
clearing amidst a dense forest of leafy trees. A complex net of paths
originating from the offices and living quarters of the planet's political
elite led to the building. During summer and late autumn, the artfully
conceived monument served as location for dinners, banquets, and festivals.

So Anandan Kele had said as he had visited them at their suite early in the
morning to deliver instructions for the feast to be held in the afternoon.
Open to the air, the construct was held up by a series of pillars alone,
each several meters thick and enshrouded by a mass of blossoming vines. The
roof was fashioned from the same bronze marble that seemed to dominate most
of the architecture on the small planet and glinted in the sunlight.

It was a dazzling display of elegance and beauty and Luke Skywalker halted
in his steps to drink in the vista. It was hard to understand the
contemptuous attitude of so many that regarded the worlds of the Outer Rim
as inferior and unworthy of attention. Many of them were true gems, graced
by rich cultures and untouched nature.

Of course there were those that were nothing much but hubs of crime and
villainy, but in the statistics, their number was astonishingly small. As
with so many other things in life, though, it was those backwater planets
that came to mind when the words Outer Rim fell in a discussion. The Jedi
Master felt a pang of sadness at the thought that this would probably never
change.

For all its splendour, the reception hall still had its disadvantages -
surrounded by foliage and bereft of even the smallest wall, it was
impossible to defend and anyone within was easy prey to assassins and
troublemakers. It was all the more interesting that Senator Anandan Kele had
still insisted on holding the feast here, despite the fact that someone had
tried to kill him less than twenty-four hours ago.

Just another curiosity that had appeared around the complacent Radaman and
it had only added to the feeling of imminent danger that had settled in the
pit of Luke's stomach ever since he had opened his eyes in the morning.

"You know, if this is a trap, it's the most obvious one I've ever run across
in my life." Mara's voice was soft lest they attract too much attention to
themselves while they made their way down a path to the centre of the
clearing. The rest of the event's attendees were travelling other ways to
reach the reception hall and while they should be far enough away to not
understand their words, it would be best to be careful. No one need know how
wary and suspicious the Jedi were at this point.

Luke pursed his lips. "Maybe we're wrong and this isn't a trap after all.
Kele is nervous, but I cannot feel any malice."

"He has no heightened security, he's not telling us who has hired assassins
to kill him although he knows who the culprit is and he is putting himself
out in the open despite the fact that it's hardly likely said enemy is going
to give up after just one try. I don't need to feel malice in the Force to
know something's up."

The Jedi Master sighed softly, "I know. Still. this is like no situation
I've ever been in. The Senator is screaming ulterior motives at me, but at
the same time, I do not feel the way I do when I'm around the likes of Fyor
Rodan. And I haven't figured out yet what that's supposed to tell me."

"So you don't think any longer that our fishy friend Pwoe or any of his
throng is behind the assassination attempt?"

Luke shook his head, "No. I've been thinking about this and if anything, the
difficulties this mission is posing for the Senate and the potential trouble
with the Yuuzhan Vong that lays ahead would be very welcome to either of
them. It stretches our forces and monopolizes our attention. They will
figure they're safer that way."

Mara smiled, "They have no idea."

Her husband smiled back, "No idea whatsoever. With Corran coordinating the
investigations, I figure we'll sooner or later have the proof we need to
neutralize them. I don't care how long it takes, actually, so long as the
end result is satisfying. It won't be easy, but Corran doesn't do this kind
of operation the first time. He'll handle it."

"Nonetheless," Luke picked his comlink from his belt, "I'd like to check
with Leia and tell her about yesterday. There's still a chance we're missing
something."

The Jedi Master's personal comlink was programmed to link with the Jade
Sabre the moment it was flicked on. This allowed quick communication with
either the ship's onboard computer or R2-D2. The faithful, little astromech
had accompanied them on this trip and had been left at the spacecraft as
backup. None of their hosts had the slightest inkling that he was there and
if it were necessary, he could pilot the Jade Sabre to wherever Luke and
Mara were at any given moment to get them out quickly and efficiently.

True to form, a warble of annoyed twitters greeted Luke. The droid didn't
like being left behind, though he enjoyed gloating about successful rescue
attempts to his counterpart C-3PO whenever the opportunity arose.

Luke quickly shushed the astromech. "I don't have much time, R2. I
transmitted a text-doc message to the Sabre this morning."

An indignant hoot sounded through the air and Mara quickly looked around to
make sure no one was listening in. It wasn't as if R2 didn't know the value
of covert operation, he just didn't care if he was unnerved. Not for the
first time since she had married Luke did Mara wonder when she had started
to acknowledge that the tin can had feelings. It should have been impossible
with a droid, but even her son Ben didn't manage to wail as plaintively as
R2-D2 could.

The former Emperor's Hand noted with relief that they were still well out of
hearing range of the other guests and a good distance away from the lawn
that grew abundantly around the building. Luke would have a few moments to
give his astromech the necessary instructions.

The former Tatooine farmboy rolled his eyes, "I know you would have seen it
already. I'm sorry. Listen, just forward it to Leia. It's important."

The channel grew silent for a while until a startled screech let Luke wince
and hold the device somewhat further away from his face. "What was that?"

R2 repeated what he had said, slower and in a tone more comfortable for
human ears and Luke blinked puzzled at the comlink. "What? Why?"

Mara frowned, "What's the problem?"

The Jedi Master held up a hand for her to wait and listened intently to the
binary language pouring from the small object in his hands. Summoning her
patience - always way too thin if R2-D2 was concerned - she marvelled at her
husband's ability to understand the weird language of the droid enough to
not have to rely on translator screens for information exchange.

While Luke was unable to understand every electronic syllable, he and R2 had
learned to communicate via an assortment of short words and sentences that
brought across whatever the Jedi needed to know in as short a time as
possible.

"I see," Luke was saying now, his features troubled. "Keep trying and comm
me if it works or if you find out why it doesn't." He thumbed off the device
and looked at his wife, his azure gaze befuddled and a tad more worried than
seconds before. "Off-world communication is down. No way to get a message
through."

Mara slowed immediately. "That's the last proof we need. The Sabre doesn't
rely on planet-side means of communication. Even if all of Ord Radama
suffered from an energy breakdown, we would still be able to reach Coruscant
without trouble."

Luke nodded, doing a conscious effort not to adopt too grim an expression.
"They're deliberately blocking us. They don't want us to get a message
off-world."

As they continued their seeming stroll, a lean figure stepped out between
two pillars and started its way toward them. Anandan Kele's pure white
clothes stood out clearly via the backdrop of violet and burgundy blossoms
that adorned the reception hall. His black hair gleamed in the sun and his
aristocratic face bore a welcoming smile.

"Do we confront him about it?" Mara gave a smile, too, all too aware that
the Senator would be able to see the smallest of their gestures by now.

Luke had assumed a pleasant expression, but his radiant eyes had cooled down
to the colour of arctic ice. As much as he had insisted that the Radaman
Senator didn't make the impression of a traitor, despite the obvious way he
withheld information from them, he was too experienced to neglect the facts.
Even if Kele were not the one to block their communications, someone did and
certainly not without reasons.

"We don't," he finally decided, his voice barely a whisper. "We continue to
play our part. Supportive of his people's situation, taken in by the beauty
of his world. More politician than Jedi."

Mara nodded. She had expected her husband to take this course of action. It
was the only one that made sense. If you didn't know who was working against
you and why, the best thing to do was pretend to go along and be ready for
everything. While your enemy thought to have the advantage of surprise, you
were mostly one step ahead by expecting the most improbable things to
happen.

And it would not be hard to pretend to be bedazzled by the delicateness of
the Radaman architecture and sense of beauty. The gala wardrobe they had
donned would further help to project the picture of the unsuspecting
stranger. As far as the Radamans were concerned, they were here to inspect
the economic situation of the world only.

Mara wore a combination of tight-fitting red shirt and skirt of an elegant
cut that nicely underlined her perfect figure and barely hindered her
movements. To spice the attire up, she had a shawl made of glistening, black
shimmersilk slung about her shoulders. Resting in the crooks of her arms, it
hid her lightsaber perfectly. She had fastened the weapon to the small of
her back, well out of sight, but close enough to reach in the fracture of a
second.

Luke, on the other hand, wore his lightsaber for everyone to see in a
specially designed holster on his right thigh that was connected to his
belt. It stood out in a nice contrast against his deep burgundy pants and
shirt and the wide, billowing cloak of an even deeper shade of the same
colour made him an appearance as impressive as it was captivating.

The effect it had on Anandan Kele was lost on neither of the two Jedi as the
Radaman Senator reached them and bowed respectfully as a way of greeting.
"It is good to see you, Master Jedi." The obsidian eyes of the humanoid
seemed to move perpetually, and he did his best to focus neither on Mara nor
on Luke for too long.

'Someone having a bad conscience,' Mara remarked in the Force, careful to
not let her smile waver.

Disbelief and even a flicker of disappointment washed over her from Luke's
direction and she was almost sorry for the sarcasm her words had been laced
with. After all these years, he had still retained the ability to be shaken
to the core of his being if someone turned out to be the contrary of what he
had instinctively thought him to be.

"It's our pleasure to be here, Senator Kele. This is truly a beautiful
place."

The compliment seemed to relieve the Radaman from some of his discomfiture
and his gaze settled eagerly on the display of lush flowers all around them.
"Thank you, Master Skywalker. We are very proud of the wonders of our
planet. Follow me. You will be most amazed at the culinary creations our
cooks have fashioned."

The Senator led the way into the hall and a wave of chatting noises and
laughter hit them like a gust of strong wind. Now that they had passed the
pillars, they could see the glint of embedded sound dampers in small
excavations circling around the base of every one of them. The birds' songs
from outside still reached their ears, but no one would be able to eavesdrop
on the things that were conferred upon in here.

At the opposite wall, the Radamans had arrayed a number of elongated, narrow
tables. Decorated with leaves and blossoms, they bore an overwhelming mass
of food. Pastries, meat, vegetables, soups and an uncountable number of
delicacies foreign to them had been amassed and in the midst of it all
throned an elevated pedestal with an assortment of sweets and chocolates
beneath the glass painting of a stylised Yncha flower.

"I will fetch my wife. She has been most impatient to meet you." Not waiting
for an acknowledgment, Anandan Kele dived into the mass of Radamans around
them, granting them a moment of relative privacy.

Mara's jade eyes took in every detail of the room, from the four-seat,
filigrane metal tables and chairs that were placed at random intervals all
through the hall to the sculptures taking up the space between pillars at
certain places. "Impressive", she acknowledged, slipping her right into the
crook of her husband's left arm as she let her gaze wander over the crowd.

She counted twelve males, standing together in groups of threes and fours,
while an equal number of female Radamans, splendid and almost unreal with
their Elven-like appearances, was hovering around the buffet. They evidently
had a good time and were in the best of moods.

"The governors and their wives."

Luke nodded, "They all seem to be in a cheery mood. Even if the governors
still don't really like the reason that led us here."

Mara inclined her head with grace as a bunch of the non-humans held up their
glasses in greeting and turned to the Jedi Master in what had to look like
an expression of delight to them. "They're still going to make sure that
they can all go home and brag about meeting Luke Skywalker."

The former farmboy smirked, "Politicians are always the same. Trying to find
a way to profit from even those things they hate the most."

They were slowly making their way toward where they saw Anandan Kele quietly
talk to a slender female with gleaming auburn hair and almond-shaped eyes as
obsidian as the ones of every Radaman. Her lithe body was hulled into a
complex mix of creamy white and lavender silk. Her features seemed a bit
less aristocratic and fine as the one of her husband, but her smile was more
sincere and resembled a supernova as she caught sight of the Jedi that were
approaching arm in arm.

Leaving the Senator amidst a sentence, she hurried towards them and gripped
Luke's hand in a friendly, if a bit overexcited manner, shaking it almost
furiously. "It is such an honor to meet you, Master Skywalker."

Luke smiled at her and bowed curtly, "I'm glad to be here. This is my wife,
Mara."

"Mara Jade Skywalker!" The woman exclaimed, only a tad less exuberant than
she had fluted Luke's name. "Of course I know her. Your reputation precedes
you. You have many admirers. Among the men, especially." She laughed
lightly, the sound reminding of a bird early in the morning.

A short burst of jealousy travelled over their bond and Mara didn't bother
hiding her grin. Competition always put Luke in a very special mood - a mix
of possessiveness and protectiveness that usually culminated in the most
wonderful nights during which he made a point of showing her why other
suitors should be uninteresting to her.

In the meantime, the Senator himself had caught up with them and graced his
wife with a mildly chastising gaze that made her roll her eyes. "Anandan
thinks I'm unfit for social occasions. And only because I think even the
most serious problem should be taken with a good deal of humour and joy."

The Radaman appeared helpless for a moment, but gathered himself quickly and
laid an arm around her shoulders. "This is my wife, Daliane. The women will
enjoy the feast with us and then leave us to the political discussions."

Mara's eyebrows rose as she gave a not so gentle, "Oh?" and the poor Senator
was sent into an even more flustered state as he realized the indeterminate
quality of his statement. He blinked at her. "Of course that means our
wives. Not you, Master Jedi." Obviously sensitive to the fact that he had
annoyed the former Emperor's Hand, he carefully touched her upper arm and
gestured towards the groups of male Radamans that were slowly coming
together and merging into one big assembly. "Let me introduce you to the
governors."

Daliane nodded, "Right. Go ahead, darling. Master Skywalker and I will
follow you after I have made him taste our Yncha pralines. You cannot leave
our planet before you have tasted one of those." She beamed up at Luke and
gestured over to the buffet. "I'm sure you will love them. If anything,
they'll help you gather energies for the boring politics you're going to
discuss."

Luke found himself genuinely drawn to Daliane Kele. Her openness and warmth
was a rare thing on occasions like this. There were not many who could block
out ulterior motives, serious problems and merciless scheming to just enjoy
the event and the luxury and beauty that were offered.

Standing a bit closer to her than before, he could glimpse fine lines around
her eyes and on her cheeks, testimony to a woman that loved to laugh. She
was a character that instantly evoked sympathies.

He felt Mara's gaze on him as she crossed the hall towards the gathered
governors, trailing a suddenly even more nervous Anandan Kele and sent a
Force tendril in her direction, 'Do keep your eyes open. Any of those could
be it.'

Laughter floated back and through his head, ' I always do. You just don't
flirt with any of the ladies, Master Skywalker. '

Luke's puzzlement rang all through clearly through the Force and Mara's
mental chuckles accompanied him all the way to the buffet while he listened
to the enthusiastic explanations of his hostess.

*~~

The "Bet's Off" was one of many down-trodden establishments that seemed to
fight against the ever-present danger of bankruptcy. The tables were blotchy
and covered by a layer of smeary dirt, the couches and chairs worn and
wobbly and no one seemed to ever bother to exchange broken lighting panels.
Obscured by dense fume from a dozen different tobacco variants and various
other intoxicants, you almost had the impression to be alone when you were
lounging in one of the dingy booths that rimmed one wall.

Amazingly, pubs like this one were among those turning out the highest
winnings. Any number of shady characters counted drinking holes like the
"Bet's Off" their second home. Here they could acquire new working
assignments, buy and sell information, drown their latest frustrating
misadventure in ail or find a consort for the night.

Han Solo scratched his chin and swallowed a curse. The pitch-black fake
beard he had donned was driving him mad with its itch and he wished that the
red one he had more often used - and that did not itch at all - had not been
singed to uselessness during his and Luke's last undercover mission. He was
still persuaded that his brother-in-law had done that on purpose, because he
had made him wear the thing. What else was he to think if the only casualty
to mourn over after a blaster fight was the red fake beard?

Luke had reacted with all the indignance of a righteous Jedi Master - it had
just hardened Han's certainty that the former farmboy had wanted to get rid
of the 'ridiculous face growth'. With his powers in the Force, it wasn't
even difficult to hold his face in exactly the right angle to have a stray
blaster bolt sheer off almost the entire thing and not even touch Luke's
chin.

"If you don't stop that, everyone's going to think you've got fleas." The
slightly accented female voice belonged to Swilja Fenn. The Twi'lek Jedi was
nestled into his side, her body barely covered by a revealing gown of sandy
yellow lace, and looked around with her dark eyes, taking in every customer
and comparing him with the description Han had given her of the contact he
hoped to meet.

They had been able to dock at the Jubilee Wheel without much of a problem. A
smuggler in the accompany of a barely clothed Twi'lek dancer was as common a
sight on a space station as was a Jawa on Tatooine and no one had paid much
attention to them. After making the tour of the black market booths to check
whether they were followed, they had proceeded to the biggest pub on the
Wheel to wait.

This had been two hours ago and to say that Swilja was annoyed was an
understatement. It wasn't a lack of patience on her part - Han had come to
see that she had taken Luke's Jedi lessons to heart and had probably
finished her apprenticeship with an A+ in behaviour. What bugged the Twi'lek
was the fact that she had to pose as a dancer and bear all the lecherous,
sultry looks every second male was giving her.

"Feels like it, too." Han murmured back. He forced his hands away from his
face and spread his arms wide to recline in the bench of their booth.

"Then maybe it's time you get that off your skin. And us off this junk
heap."

"He WILL come. He's never let me down before."

The Twi'lek snorted and her lekku writhed in disdain on her back. "How long
ago have you last seen him?"

"What's that got to do with it all?"

The attractive female face was bereft of any expression, only her eyes held
a kind of exasperation that made Han nervous. He was not accustomed to not
being able to banter. As much as he thought Swilja to be a nice lady and a
good Jedi, her way of refusing to be dragged into banter was disturbing to
him.

She was taking things too serious for his taste. Of course it was a serious
mission, but how much easier was it to deal with the expected complications
by not acting as if the universe was going to collapse any moment?

Shaking his head to himself, Han leaned in close. "We give him another
twenty minutes. Then we go back to the Falcon."

Swilja narrowed her eyes and hid the gesture by showing her sharp teeth in a
grin, but before she could say anything, a hesitant voice sounded out of the
fumes around the table. "Vykk? Vykk Draygo?"

Han tensed and sat up straight. The Twi'lek Jedi shrank into the shadows in
what had to look like a gesture of timidity to whoever had intruded on their
talk - in truth, she'd be ready to spring into action the moment the
stranger turned out to be hostile.

Vykk Draygo was a forged ID Han had used decades ago, a long time before the
Rebellion had sprung up and when he had just begun to make a living for
himself as a smuggler. He hadn't even known Chewbacca at that time. Grief
washed over him, but he suppressed it quickly. This was not the moment to be
overwhelmed by memories. The Wookiee would have a good laugh if that kind of
melancholy were responsible for getting him shot.

Naturally, the Corellian and the Twi'lek Jedi had not docked under their
true names. The Millenium Falcon was travelling under a faked transponder
code identifying her as the Princess of Blood. Still, Vykk Draygo was an
alias Han didn't use anymore. An alias not many people could know about. As
far as he knew, all those privy to it and bearing him ill were already dead.

He wouldn't have survived as long as he had by simply going with such
assumptions, though.

"Possibly. Who wants to know?"

Han kept still while the creature merged out of the fumes and slid into the
booth. The bald head of a Bith, almost pink due to the consumption of too
much glitterstim or worse, leaned forward and peered up at him through
pupil-less black eyes. "My name is Csil D'engan. Roa sent me."

The former smuggler put his elbows on the table and met the other's stare
dead-on. "Is that so?"

The alien seemed to notice his trusted blaster for the first time and shied
away in surprise. Han would almost have laughed. Whatever he was, he was not
a professional. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Swilja scoot back to
his side, their agreed-upon sign that she had not spotted any weapons on the
other's body.

As any pirate would do, Han didn't grace the Twi'lek with even a spare look
and held his eyes fixated on the Bith. "And why would Roa send you to Vykk
Draygo?"

The Bith seemed dumbfounded as his long fingers knotted together. "You are
Vykk Draygo, are you not?"

The Corellian sighed. The difficult thing with beginners and greenhorns was
that they didn't even manage to play along a typical to and fro game. They
were too inexperienced to recognize hints when they were given and whereas
they often held information that would be helpful to you, they were just as
quick to blow your cover. Indeliberately, sure, but that did hardly make a
difference under most circumstances.

Seizing the non-human up a final time, listening into his gut to find out
whether his instincts were warning him off, Han decided to just go along. He
hadn't spotted anyone that bore a grudge against him. At least he was
reasonably certain of this.

"I am Vykk Draygo."

Swilja's features darkened almost imperceptibly, but she didn't say word.
Han appreciated this. She had no idea of the significance of this name. He
hadn't even mentioned this to Leia. The necessity had just never arisen. If
he hadn't missed something very important during the last few years, the
only one still alive who would know about this was Roa himself.

The Bith relaxed visibly. "Good. He told me to give you this note. Clear
skies."

As Han had expected, the alien vanished quickly among the crowd of customers
and left but a small piece of flimsi-plast. A few words were scribbled on
it, a line of numbers below. The Corellian studied it and frowned,
"Shouldn't surprise me."

Swilja plucked the note from his fingers and read it with narrowed eyes.
"Splendid. It's probably unlikely your friend's suffering from paranoia."

Again, there was no humour in her voice and finally, Han knew whom she was
reminding him of. Tenel Ka. She had the same tendency to puzzle everyone
with remarks that should be funny, but never were if they uttered them.

Han shook his head, "If he says he's been tracked since I contacted him,
then he is being tracked. Still, we've not come for nothing." He tugged the
flimsi-plast into his jacket, tossed a few coins onto the table and stood.
"Come on. We're on our way." He added a dismissive hand gesture to stay in
character and strode purposefully toward the exit without waiting for the
Jedi to follow him.

In less than fifteen minutes, they had let the corridors of the Wheel behind
them and were settling into the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon.

"Where are we going?" Swilja buckled herself in, wincing in disdain as the
belts cut into the delicate green skin of her body where the spare dress
didn't cover it. "I hope wherever it is, I'll have the time to change." She
muttered.

"Not likely," Han started the power-up sequence and consulted the
navicomputer to find out the relative position of the Jubilee Wheel to the
planet. "We're going to Ord Mantell. Worlport to be exact."

The Twi'lek frowned, "If this Roa is being tracked ever since you contacted
him, it's pretty probable that whoever is keeping an eye on him is going to
expect us down there."

The Corellian nodded, "Of course. But the line of numbers below the note is
the code for a smuggler's box in one of the abandoned buildings out on the
frontier between the inhabited cities and the wastelands, where the heavy
industry is making living pretty ugly."

"A smuggler's box. And it's supposed to be still there after twenty years?"

Han glared at her, "He may be out of business, but I already said he's
keeping up to date. Whatever information he has assembled - and I daresay
it's quite an important piece of it - it'll be there."

"It and trouble."

The Corellian gave a lopsided grin, "I was becoming bored anyway."

*~~

The feast had been going on for hours. Darkness had fallen outside and night
insects were filling the air with chirps and other, unidentifiable sounds.
Now the female Radamans were getting ready to withdraw and leave the field
to their husbands, so that they could discuss the future of Ord Radama.

Servants quickly carried away the dishes and the rest of the food and ere
long, the twelve governors, the Senator Anandan Kele and the two Jedi had
taken a seat around a long, oval table of black wood that had been brought
in for the conference.

A few minutes of pleasant, non-committal chatter went by before the
governors grew serious. The representative of the largest of Ord Radama's
twelve nations cleared his throat and stood. "I hear that you have studied
the situation of our world's economy. You have come to a decision?"

Luke rose slowly from his seat and turned slightly to the right so that he
could look the non-human squarely in the eye. "The decision is left to the
Senate. But as things lay, both my wife and I are confident that the New
Republic will grant you financial support and give you access to several of
the programs that are available for planets such as yours."

The governors erupted in a soft murmur of agreement that was strongly tinged
with relief. The prospect of help for the people they were responsible for
did not much, but a little to take the sting out of the fact that they had
to ask for help in the first place.

"What about the trade routes we need? Can we count on you, Master Jedi?"

Luke took a deep breath before he answered, "As you are well aware, I'm
sure, this matter is very delicate. The Yuuzhan Vong are a reclusive race.
They have been granted autonomy over their cluster and cannot be ordered to
open their space."

Silence fell over the gathering and numerous faces fell. "Does that mean you
think it impossible?"

The Jedi Master frowned slightly. "That is not what I said, Governor Werda.
What I said is that the outcome is unsure and that nothing can be forced.
The Jedi will gladly bring what influence we have to bear in order to help
Ord Radama, but what I have come to do is to look for alternatives. A trade
route around the Yuuzhan Vong cluster would be an ideal solution."

"So far, we have not even been told which planet you're envisioning as trade
partner." Mara softly interjected, her eyes blazing in the dim lighting of
the hall.

This seemed to puzzle the compact Radaman that had addressed Luke and
several more of the governors sent astonished glances in the direction of
Anandan Kele. Caught, she mused.

"Senator Kele," the one called Werda began, "why didn't you answer the
Jedis' questions yet?"

Kele extended his arms in a gesture of apology, "I thought it would be
prudent to take care of everything at once, this evening."

Luke filed the reaction of the governors away, only mildly astonished that
another piece of the puzzle that set Kele up as a liar fell into place. He
still didn't believe it, not wholeheartedly, but the riddle started to worry
him ever more.

"Which planet, then?" He asked mildly, feeling tiredness well up within him.
It surprised him, but the day had been long. Being on your guard twenty-four
hours on end was exhausting, he had experienced that before.

"Mon Calamari. We have found a company willing to interact with us on good
terms. The deal would turn out a hefty profit and create a large number of
jobs for our people."

"But if you don't travel through the Yuuzhan Vong cluster, the cost of fuel
and the profit-time ratio would explode and negate any winnings. Am I
right?" Mara's voice was sickly sweet as she narrowed her gaze on Anandan
Kele. The Radaman paled, but held the eye contact bravely. "Of course."

"Have there been no other planets interested in your goods?"

Kele smiled thinly, "The company on Mon Calamari offered a deal we could not
withstand."

This answer seemed odd to Luke, but before he could ask for the names of the
planets, a Radaman servant hurried to the Senator's side and whispered a few
quick words. Kele frowned and glanced in the direction from which the aide
had come. He excused himself and quickly followed his compatriot.

A tall human was waiting behind one of the pillars of the reception hall,
half-hidden behind one of the numerous sculptures. The Jedi Master caught a
glimpse of icy blue and of a haughty face with high cheekbones. Then two
things happened at once.

The high whine of repulsor engines ripped through the complacent silence of
the night. It grew steadily louder, and it soon became clear that several
vehicles at least the size of a speeder bike had to be closing in on the
building from the east. At the same time, a wave of nausea rolled over him
and he sagged hard onto his chair.

*~~

Mara had risen along with half of the Radamans at the table when the whir of
the repulsor engines had first broken through the background noise of a
night in the forest. The former Emperor's Hand felt a grim smile blossom on
her lips - this didn't come exactly unexpected. The location of this
conference was no less than an invitation, an opportunity too good to
ignore.

While the non-humans started drifting towards the pillars and - foolishly -
peered out into the night, Mara shook her head in annoyance. If they didn't
develop some survival instinct soon, getting them all out unscathed in case
the new arrivals turned out to be hostile - and Mara was sure they would -
was going to be difficult.

She half turned and was startled to find Luke not next to her, focused on
the problem at hand. Mara completed her movement and felt her heart stop for
just a little moment. The Jedi Master sat slumped in his chair, his face
pale. His eyes were blinking open and closed slowly and he seemed to sway in
his seat.

Mara was next to him in an instant, relieved now that the attention of the
governors was not on her and her love.

"Luke?"

While she was kneeling down in front of him, she felt how he sucked the
Force into himself, but even though she saw him straighten, his eyes still
seemed glazed over and unfocused as she stared into them, her own filled
with worry.

"Luke, what's wrong?"

He blinked again and frowned. "Woozy." He murmured, his voice rough and with
a slight slur to it.

Meanwhile, the whine of the repulsor vehicles was so loud that it drowned
out the nervous voices of the governors. At the fringes of her perception,
Mara noted that Anandan Kele was nowhere to see. The escalation she was
waiting for came within seconds. Blaster bolts shrieked into the hall,
sending the Radamans scattering in a panic.

She would have almost called to them to stay together, to flee through the
opposite wall of the hall and into the forest, but the advice didn't leave
her lips. None of the assailants that were still hidden by the darkness
outside went to pursue any of the governors. Instead, she heard them circle
the building and thought to see the forward fins of speeder bikes hovering
just outside the glow of the lights. The pilots were no doubt equipped with
the latest interactive visors - and they were scanning the hall for their
prey.

The logical conclusion was that they were searching for Kele, but the
Senator was certainly not in the hall. A fact the attackers had no doubt
already realised. And they were still hovering, still circling and still
peeking in. Cautiously. Expecting trouble.

"Kreth," Mara hissed under her breath. She slung her arm around the Jedi
Master's hip and dragged Luke upright, trying to compensate for his buckling
knees. "We've got to get out of here. Fast."

Luke nodded, but didn't answer. Instead, she felt his presence in the Force
close in on hers, merge wit hers, and she willingly opened up to let him
drink in her strength. In the seconds he needed to purge enough of whatever
was giving him trouble out of his system to allow him to stand on his own
and move, she fumbled his comlink off his belt and pressed the button that
would set off a series of alarms in the Jade Sabre's cockpit and send R2 the
signal to pick them up.

The Jedi Master came upright, trying to get his bearings, just when the
first of the speeder bike goons decided to press forward and veered into the
hall, a dozen meters away from where they were standing.

"How many?" Luke's voice was once again steady, but it was obvious to his
wife that he relied more on the Force to get impressions of his surroundings
than on his eyes. He felt sluggish to her, not as much as moments ago, but
enough to hamper him in the fight to come.

"Twelve. Maybe thirteen."

By the time both their lightsabers had sprung to life, the whole speeder
bike gang had followed its leader's example and dared come into the light.
They were drawing a wide circle around the two Jedi, training a variety of
blaster pistols and rifles on them, but not shooting a single time.

'They're waiting for something,' Mara followed the pattern, expertly
assessing the way the masked unknowns handled their weapons and assigning
threat levels to them. It didn't take her long to figure out which one to
take out first. If she timed it right, there would be a chance to survive
until the Sabre arrived.

'No," Luke's voice answered in her head. 'They're waiting for me.'

'What do you.?' Mara bit her lower lip as realisation dawned on her. 'This
better work.'

'Just play along.' He didn't wait for her acknowledgement.

Without so much as a sigh, Luke crumpled to the floor. His lightsaber rolled
along the floor and before it had even knocked against one of the pillars,
the attackers reacted. His half-masked face now bearing a broad grin, the
leader of the group waved three of his partners forward.

For appearance's sake, Mara defiantly lifted her azure blade and glared at
them. Each of the three that were approaching loosened a bolt and each of
the bolts hit the floor of the hall a bit closer to Luke's head.

She cursed inwardly - why did her husband's plans always involve stuff like
this?

Luke didn't budge or twist, neither as the last bolt sprinkled pieces of
permabeton over his head nor as one of the trio landed next to him while the
other two kept Mara away. He could feel his wife's disapproval, but knew
that this was the best way to get out of the mess they were in. The Jade
Sabre would soon be here, but they were badly outnumbered. He still felt
nauseous and infinitely tired and knew that he was no match for twelve
speeder bike jockeys in that condition. If he could manage to get one of the
bikes, though.

The thug that had landed next to him did not hop off his vehicle. Even
though the Jedi Master lay unmoving before him, wariness radiated off him.
Just as Luke had hoped, the humanoid extended his blaster rifle and nudge
him in the side, none too gently, but still hesitant enough to make it easy
for him to stifle an instinctive groan.

When his victim did not react, the assailant laughed and called something
over to the leader and his colleagues, in a language Luke had never heard
before. He didn't waste time wondering what the other could have said.

Drawing on fast reflexes and the Force and pushing through the hazy mist
that was covering his senses, he grabbed the muzzle of the rifle and drew.
With a yelp, the pilot was yanked off the speeder bike and groaned as Luke's
extended right leg hit him square in the stomach. The thug rolled into a
ball on the floor while Luke jumped up and thumped down on the speeder bike.

Even though he felt a drug cursing through his veins, beckoning him with
sleep, his connection with the Force was strong enough to let him manage
piloting, something he had done ever since he was able to walk and that was
as natural to him as breathing.

The group of assassins around him needed a few seconds to realize what had
happened. By the time they opened fire and pressed their engines to pursue,
Luke had picked up Mara and was weaving his way in and out of pillars,
bringing them into the direction of the path they had taken to come here
hours earlier. He had no night-vision visor and felt as if he were stuck in
glue, so he had deemed it best to take an escape route that was at least
vaguely known to him.

Behind him, Mara deactived her lightsaber and hooked it into the small of
her back. Most of the poorly aimed bolts hit the building anyway and the
rest Luke was still awake enough to dodge. It wasn't easy to pilot and shoot
if you were not Jedi.

When Luke turned the bike sharply to the left and veered out into the
darkness, Mara had familiarized herself with the blaster rifle her husband
had taken from the former owner of the vehicle and picked off the first two
of their pursuers as they followed the Jedi outside.

To his credit, the leader of the gang waved his partners off and had them
hover each behind a pillar. He must have understood that whereas they had a
hard time seeing the Jedi and their speeder bike in the darkness beyond,
they themselves were bathed in the light of the reception hole and easy
targets.

"They'll swarm out soon," Mara said as she gripped Luke's waist a bit
tighter with her left arm to compensate the added weight of her weapon. The
Jedi Master was hovering among the first of the trees, eyes and Force senses
trained on their enemies.

"How much longer until the Sabre arrives?" His voice sounded strained and
she had the feeling he was pressing the words out between gritted teeth.
Pouring her strength into him, she felt him battle against still nearly
overwhelming nausea and grimaced in worry. "Maybe it's better if you let me
pilot, Luke."

He smiled over his shoulder, "If I don't pilot, I'll drop out cold. The
adrenaline helps."

In the distance, they saw half of the speeder bike pilots leave the hall
through the far side of the building, impossible to shoot from their vantage
point.

"Coming in from behind and forcing us back into the others. They're clever."
She murmured.

Luke cocked his head to the side and his smile broadened a little more,
"They might be clever, but they're not fast enough." Mara frowned and was
about to inquire what he meant when she heard the familiar hum of the Jade
Sabre's engines practically right over her head.

Her jade eyes darkened, "Do you realize what he did to my ship by getting it
here THAT fast?"

Luke shrugged, "He's a droid. He has risk margins and all that stuff. Don't
worry."

Mara huffed, but refrained from commenting any further on it. They watched
as the Jade Sabre sat down between the forest and the reception hall,
effectively shielding them from the goons inside the construct. The moment
the ship's entry ramp started lowering, Luke hit the thrusters and veered
out of the dense foliage's cover at the highest speed the vessel could
manage.

The ones who had been stalking them were fast. They had not yet been able to
get behind them, but instead of completing their course and trying to catch
them that way, they kept behind the cover of the trees and started filling
the night with blaster bolts. Red lances of light were cutting through the
darkness at random intervals, aimed to have them fly directly into them
without a chance to dodge.

Mara felt Luke's concentration harden to a point where his whole body
quivered, straining against the effects of the drug in his bloodstream. He
was amazing, even in this condition, but there were too many angles the
deadly energy bolts could come from. Even with Mara's lightsaber humming to
life again and deflecting as many as she could, it was not enough.

He shot into the small docking space inside the Sabre and hit the breaks
hard, bringing them to an instant stand that almost catapulted them off the
bike. Mara slipped down immediately and ran toward the cockpit. Luke was a
bit slower, as he programmed the primitive autopilot of the vehicle on a
simple course away from the ship. His X-Wing took up the entire docking
space inside the Sabre and there was no room for anything else - not even a
vehicle as small as a speeder bike.

It felt like minutes to him, but in reality it took him but a few seconds to
send the repulsor vessel off. At the fringes of his perception, he saw the
Jade Sabre's shields shimmer to life - the hull was strong and R2 had thus
diverted all energy to the engines for increased velocity.

The reaction time of shields as advanced as the one of Mara's ship was
extraordinary. The time span between pressing the activator button in the
cockpit and the build-up of working protective energy fields at twenty-five
percent was as long as ten seconds.

It was not quick enough. Two enemy bolts managed to find their way in before
the shields came up. Luke saw them and tried to duck and twist out of harm's
way, but now that his legs had to support his full weight again, the
queasiness had returned. His body didn't react as fast as it was supposed to
and the blasters hit as he didn't manage to turn away fully. Pain blossomed
at the left side of his head and on his chest and the force of the bolts
sent him spinning and tumbling into darkness.

To Be Continued

In The Shadows

By Sienn

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Spoilers: See Chapter 1

Chapter 6

Consciousness had returned to him in a curious mix of clarity and haziness.
The left side of his face throbbed, his chest burned and the metallic taste
of blood was on his lips. He blinked against the harsh lights of the Jade
Sabre's docking bay and winced as pain shot through his head.

He had awoken to find himself propped against the bulkhead, his limbs heavy
and his wife's worried face hovering over him. She had moved her lips, but
no sound had reached his ears and it had been then that he had remembered
the drug that had almost knocked him out back at the reception hall.

Luke Skywalker knew he was trying to form words, but Mara's smile told him
that whatever had come out of his mouth had not been coherent. So he laid
back and tried to stay awake while he felt her tending to his wounds.
Memories of the last few seconds of awareness came back to him and he
recalled the blaster bolts that had streaked towards him through the night.
They could not have hit him fully, he concluded, otherwise he would hardly
be in any shape to ponder the events of the past few hours.

The Jedi Master lost track of time as he floated in semi-consciousness,
dimly comprehending that Mara would focus on stopping the blood flow and
disinfecting the wounds before she would help him get rid of whatever it was
that was trying to push him back into the state of coma the speeder bike
jockeys had expected him to be in when they had hit the reception hall.

Hours might have passed when his vision and thoughts finally cleared. Luke
shivered and glanced down at himself. Mara had rid him of his shirt to
properly treat the nasty burn that was covering his torso from left to
right. Something warm and sticky had been fastened to the left side of his
face and he suspected that it covered an injury just as nasty as the one
Mara was about to bandage.

When she noticed his movement, the female Jedi lifted her gaze from what she
was doing and smiled in relief, "There you are again. I was worried I'd have
to wait for the result of the blood analysis to give you the right
antidote."

Luke frowned and sat up slowly, giving his sense of up and down time to
adjust. "How long have I been out?" His tongue felt swollen and dry and he
gratefully accepted the bottle of water Mara gave him before she clicked the
medkit shut and helped him rise to his feet.

"A couple of minutes." She inspected the bandages - strings of bacta badges,
as he could see now - a last time, making sure they would stand him moving
around, then nodded her satisfaction. "This'll hold. Just scrapes. They're
painful, though. You'll need to go into a trance for a while, as soon as
possible."

The Jedi Master nodded his assent and gazed over to the now closed ramp.
"What happened?"

"I think they hoped for you to tumble the other way." Mara's eyes narrowed
as she recalled the moments after Luke had been hit. She had lived through a
few seconds of shock and sheer panic as she had seen him falling to the
floor via the security cameras she had lined the bay with. He had rolled
down the closing ramp, slammed into the port landing strut of his X-Wing and
within seconds, pools of blood had formed around his head and chest.

The wounds had certainly not LOOKED like mere scrapes and she had been sure
he was dead until she had located his presence in the Force, knocked out,
but strong. Feeling her husband's gaze on her, she dragged her thoughts back
from this terrible experience and focused on him. "They gave chase, no doubt
to try and pick you up from where you'd have fallen, but when they saw you
weren't there, they broke off and vanished. They were no beginners - they
knew they wouldn't stand a chance against the Sabre, so they abandoned their
objective."

Luke carefully rolled his shoulder to work out the pins and needles he felt
in his muscles. "Any idea what exactly that objective has been?"

Mara snorted, "It was pretty obvious to me. They wanted you."

Her husband frowned and gulped down the remaining content of the water
bottle. With every droplet he felt his strength returning to him, yet if it
came to the problems at hand, revelations would not come.

"I think they wanted us." He finally said, his voice holding more certainty
than the facts warranted.

"Us? They sure didn't bother me all too much." Despite her matter-of-fact
tone and her all-business demeanour, Mara was clearly rattled and Luke had
to admit that he was, too. This had been a close call and he knew it. Had he
reacted only a second too late, the bolts would have caused mortal wounds.
He would have died before Mara would have had a chance to get to him with a
medpack.

The whole trip was fast getting out of control and they could not allow it
to escalate any more. If they didn't get to the bottom of this soon, Ord
Radama would end up in a situation more problematic than before.

Luke took his wife's hand and pressed it softly, letting her know that he
understood and giving her all the reassurance and gratitude he could while
still focusing on the problem at hand. "If I had truly been out cold, would
you have abandoned me?" He asked, his voice gentle.

It was not a challenge he was uttering, he just wanted to make her see that
things were not as obvious as she thought they were. Not from his point of
view, at least. He could still be wrong, of course, but he needed her to see
what he meant.

Mara's expression darkened, "I'd have followed them and gotten you out."

"Of course. But if they had had a blaster trained on my head, had told you
to shut down your lightsaber and get onto one of the bikes? As a prisoner?"

"I see. They knew they couldn't take us both, so they tried to take one of
us out of the equation because they knew the other would do what they
demanded. Is that what you're saying?"

Luke nodded, "That's what I think has happened."

"It was a bad idea." The former Emperor's Hand concluded after a while and
it didn't sound as if she were joking. Her husband smiled, "It was. Someone
was too confident. They thought they knew enough about us to foresee our
reactions, but there are things they couldn't predict."

"Our bond." Mara said softly, a wistful smile now gracing her features, too.

The Jedi Master drew her into his arms and kissed her, the one gesture
conveying everything he had not the time to say. How sorry he was for
scaring her, how grateful for her love and her help and how scared at the
thought that she might as well have been in his place.

Mara revelled in the sensations and merged into his chest, careful to not
touch his wound. "They didn't expect me to help you fight the drug."

"Exactly," Luke's voice was soft as he laid his chin on her head and allowed
himself some relaxation. The necessities of the mission and the adrenaline
that was still circulating in his system would both give him the energy he
would need to tackle what was to come, but right now, he wanted to forget
his close encounter with death.

Reality didn't permit the humble pleasure for long. A shrill twitter sounded
through the intercom system and they hesitantly separated. "R2'll have a
connection to Coruscant." He murmured, unwilling to leave the embrace of his
wife and the safety and warmth it gave him.

Mara sighed, "If we've sorted this through." She whispered, brushing her
lips over his and caressing his shoulder before she stepped away for good
and turned in the cockpit's direction. "Whoever had a hand in this, he knows
us too well. He dosed you so high that it overwhelmed your Force defences.
The only place where such data is held is…"

"… My medical file." Luke concluded. He looked at her in amazement. "They
need to have it up to date at all times to give a sufficient quantity of
anaesthetics if I'm in surgery. But no one's supposed to be able to access
my medical file. It's highly classified. Just like yours and Leia's and
Han's, the kids'…."

The former Emperor's Hand nodded, her face sombre, "That's my point. Maybe
your initial suspicions were not so far off the mark, after all. You need
power and influence to ignore limits like these. Some Senators have it."

"What about Kele? Is he just a pawn?"

Mara shrugged, "That's what we'll have to find out."

*~~

"I knew something was going to happen. Force…" Leia Organa Solo's eyes were
wide and haunted as she took in the appearance of her brother. Though his
wounds had been seen to, there had been no time for him to clean up. His
hair was caked with blood and so was the largest part of his chest.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Luke quickly assured her. He hated worrying
his sister and would have preferred to take a shower before making the call
to Coruscant, but time was of the essence. It wouldn't take Radaman Security
long to locate Anandan Kele and by the time the two Jedi landed again and
went to interrogate the Senator, it would be helpful to know whether he had
either the power or the connections to access classified medical data about
the head of the Jedi Order.

"That's what you always say," the Alderaanian princess remarked, her gaze
still doubtful.

"Leia, believe me, I'm fine. The shots just grazed me. As soon as I get the
chance to go into a trance I'll be as good as new." Seeing that his
arguments didn't really convince his sister, Luke quickly added, "Mara
wouldn't let me talk to you if it were serious."

This seemed to finally satisfy the New Republic's Chief of State somewhat.
"Where is she?"

"Talking to planetary security about a safe place to put the Jade Sabre
down. This was the second attack in two days… we don't want to take
chances."

Leia cocked an eyebrow, "The second attack?" The unspoken question was
obvious. Why did she not know about this? Luke had expected this reaction
and was glad that, this time around, he actually had an explanation other
than wanting to spare her the worry and fear.

"Our off-world communication was blocked. They didn't want us to contact
you."

The petite woman's eyes narrowed, "I don't think so."

Luke blinked puzzled, "Hu?"

His twin sister shook her head and bent forward. Brown tresses dangled into
view and eclipsed the glimpses of the room behind her. "They sure didn't
want any communication between us, but they were worried about ME contacting
YOU."

The Jedi Master watched his sister for a few moments, noticing the thin line
of her lips and for the first time associating it with something different
than his own condition. "What's happened?"

Leia wordlessly brought the holo-cube into her brother's field of vision and
let it play out. When the sequence had ended, Luke was left almost
speechless. "Was there a message attached?" he finally asked, trying to go
about the problem in as analytical a way as he could manage.

The Chief of State shook her beautiful head, "No. This WAS the message. I
thought that maybe it was an ill-conceived joke. It happens sometimes. Then
I tried to contact you and didn't come through. Now you have narrowly
escaped death. I think it's abundantly clear what this has been supposed to
tell me."

The Jedi Master nodded slowly, but there was something about his expression
that told Leia there was more going on. "You don't agree?" she queried.

Luke blinked at her, as if he had forgotten for a moment that she was still
there, and leaned back in the Jade Sabre's pilot chair. "I just wonder what
kind of an attempt it was back at the reception hall. Did they want to kill
us or hijack us? Things don't fit either way. If they had wanted to kill us,
why drug me first? If they had wanted to hijack us, why try to shoot me to
pieces when it goes awry? And why HERE?"

Leia laid her fingertips together and sought his gaze, "You think it's too
obvious."

"Way too obvious," Luke agreed. "Just think about it. I know I'm not trained
in Intelligence, but if Kele wanted to see me dead, it would be incredibly
stupid to have the attempts made on his planet. On the other hand, he IS
behaving in a suspicious way."

His twin abandoned her regal position and cupped her chin in her hands in
frustration, "So our Senator is somehow part of this, but he is not the one
pulling the strings. He really couldn't have gotten his hands on this data
about you, anyway. Did the blood analysis check out? Anything interesting?"

"Nope," The former farmboy scratched his head and grimaced in disgust at the
stickiness of his hair. He really was in need of a shower. "It was a strong
sedative. Incredibly complicated chemical formula. The computer says it's
been mixed and doesn't resemble anything out on the market or in the spice
dens."

"Just like the doctors do it if you have to go into surgery - combine
several ingredients." Leia sighed, "This is just not helping us any. Have
you talked to Kele?"

"We will soon. Maybe that will give us some new leads. Do you think this is
changing anything for the Radaman people?"

The Chief of State shrugged, "I don't know. It depends on the outcome. If
none of the governors is involved, hardly. But I cannot promise anything."

Luke seemed disappointed, but nodded anyway, "I know you can't." They shared
smiles and a deep gaze, something that conveyed more thoughts and emotions
than any words they could have shared. There was much reassurance to be
drawn from such a contact, yet it also revealed formerly unaddressed fears
and sorrows.

"You're worried about Han," Luke said, his voice soft.

Leia winced almost imperceptibly and her smile wavered. She did her best to
keep it up, but more was needed to fool her twin. "He will be fine, Leia."

The Princess looked down, "I hope so. I'm scared, Luke." Her eyes were large
as she focused back on him. "That cube threatened me and now you've been
almost killed. Han could be in the same danger."

"That would mean that all this is connected. The Ord Radama mission and the
trial against Cal. Do you believe that?"

The beautiful woman closed her eyes for a long moment, but they still held
insecurity when she opened them again, "I have no idea. It seems impossible.
Utopian. But I'm not willing to risk Han's life."

Luke smiled grimly, "Neither am I. What are his operating parameters?"

Tension fell off Leia as if she was stepping out of the shadows into the
light and she eagerly leaned forward. It was a relief to see him take her
fear seriously. Sometimes she suspected she was acting almost paranoid,
especially when Luke and Han were concerned.

"He's supposed to check in by tomorrow morning. Coruscant time. Ten hours
from now."

Luke did a check with the Radaman time system and nodded, "Let me know if he
doesn't get back to you."

"I will. And I will see whether I can find any connection between Kele and
Rodan. Or Pwoe and Niuv. You take care of yourself, Luke."

The Jedi smiled reassuringly, "You, too. Give Ben a kiss from his parents
and tell him we'll be back as soon as possible." He reached out with one
hand but paused short of cutting the connection, "I love you, Leia."

The Princess beamed at him, the smile that had always made his heart
flutter, ever since he had first met her. "I love you, too."

*~~

The SoroSuub X-34 was an old landspeeder, but it handled well and was in
good condition. With the resources of New Republic Intelligence at his
disposal, Han Solo could have commandeered a newer model, but it was not the
first time he had come to a planet with stealth in mind.

Ord Mantell had its share of wealthy inhabitants, but the biggest part of
the planet's population was lower middle class at best. Blending in would be
difficult with a state-of-the-art speeder that would draw attention to it
wherever they went.

He and Swilja had landed during the world's early dawn and by the time the
sun had reached its highest stand, they were already leaving the outskirts
of Worlport behind and heading towards the murky horizon. Ord Mantell relied
on heavy industry to uphold its economy and most of the companies were
situated in the plains outside the cities. Environmental factors were never
integrated in business concepts, though, and as soon as you left the
relatively clean air of the planet's living areas, you did best to don a
breathing mask.

Both the Corellian and the Twi'lek had taken this advice to heart and were
huddling inside the speeder close to the dashboard to avoid the strong winds
that were a trademark of the Mid Rim world. The X-34 was supposed to have a
cover for the passenger cabin, but as it was with second-hand rented
vehicles, you never got the complete original equipment.

"Are they still behind us?"

Swilja Fenn leaned forward and checked the portable sensor array she had
somehow managed to squeeze between her feet in the already cramped
co-pilot's seat. It was the latest New Republic Intelligence had to offer
and beat the in-built units the landspeeder was providing. As cleverly as
the Jedi had concealed it, Han doubted their shadow knew about its
existence. They would expect the duo to rely on what their vehicle was
sporting - and that meant they wouldn't expect Han and his female accompany
to be aware of their presence.

The Twi'lek nodded, "Yes. They're cutting the distance, though."

"Creeping closer." Han murmured. "I'd love to know who these guys are."

Swilja shook her head softly, "Isn't this all the proof we need? If Omas
were guilty, it would make no sense to send someone after us. There can't be
anything more compromising than what Rodan already presented. Someone else
sent those - the Senator is innocent."

"Life would be so much easier if common sense were enough to persuade a
court." Han glanced at the terrain sensors and did some calculations. They
were only a couple of minutes away from the group of derelict buildings that
had housed a few hundred beings only a decade ago and was now serving
smugglers to exchange messages without ever being seen together.

"You believe me now that old Roa uncovered some interesting bits of
information?"

The Jedi frowned, "It is obvious. What now? I have four contacts. That could
be as many as twenty beings against us."

Han looked at her with a broad grin, "You sound as if that could be a
problem."

Swilja blinked, "We will be extremely outnumbered."

The Corellian shrugged, "And? Won't be the first time. Besides, this is why
I brought a Jedi. Luke would be bored."

The Twi'lek blinked some more, now gaping at him in open astonishment, "You
cannot seriously compare me with Master Skywalker!"

"You trained under him."

"At times, yes, but most lessons were given by Master Solusar and I have
never…" She fell silent as Han started chuckling and batted one of her
lekkus against his shoulder in annoyance. "General Solo! I wish you would
stop doing this!"

"I'm just trying to teach you some humour. You need to learn to enjoy
missions."

The dark eyes of the beautiful woman glanced around and she wrinkled her
nose. "This is hardly my idea of enjoying myself."

"I agree," Han nodded seriously. "We need to spice things up. You buckled
in?"

"Yes."

"Good. Don't get scared." And with this, Han hit the thrusters and sent the
landspeeder to its point blank velocity. It was clear their pursuers wanted
to keep them from getting their hands on whatever Roa had deposited for them
at the Ord Mantell smuggler's box and the only advantage he and Swilja had
was the one of surprise. They knew they were being followed and could react
appropriately.

The blips on Swilja's sensor array were slow to react to the suddenly
increased speed of their prey and seemed to confer a moment as to why the
pilots would hasten up all of a sudden. By the time they prompted their own
vehicles to top speed, the Corellian was veering into a somewhat protected
alley between two unstable ruins.

Han consulted the holo-map of the area for a last time, unbuckled and hopped
out of the speeder. "Cover me. I'll be back in no time." The tall man
vanished in the shadows as if he had never done anything else and Swilja
found herself staring after him in dumbfounded awe.

She had grown up with stories of Han Solo, Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker
and she remembered how she had felt when she had first met the Jedi Master.
It had been an incredible honour to her and she had found herself in a
similar situation when she had been introduced to Han Solo the morning they
had left Coruscant.

Although she had never doubted the tales she had been told, it was very
different to see them materialize in front of her own eyes. At the same
time, Swilja felt a bit ridiculous. So far, she had been under the
impression that she had come with Han Solo as protection - a Jedi escort for
a civilian on a difficult and dangerous mission. Meanwhile, she doubted that
the Corellian had ever needed her in the first place.

The whine of landspeeder engines ripped her out of her thoughts and she
glanced over her shoulder. A cloud of dust was rapidly approaching,
following their tracks. It would take them a minute, maybe two, to find the
X-34 between the buildings. It would be a bad idea to sit and wait for them
to come. Swilja checked her lightsaber - the trusted weapon was exactly
where it was supposed to be, hanging off her belt beneath her robe and the
young Twi'lek cursed softly in her mother language. Nervousness was uncalled
for. And unnecessary. She had been trained. She had received advice from the
Master in person. She would be able to handle this.

*~~

"Look for a pile of rubble, he wrote. You can't miss it, he wrote." Han Solo
murmured under his breath and peeked into another window-less room to his
right. Just as in every other room he had looked into in the past few
minutes, the floor was literally buried under immense piles of rubble. As
deep as his trust in his old partner went, slowly he was beginning to wonder
whether Roa had ever been here in the first place.

By now their pursuers must have caught up. They had probably also spotted
their vehicle - if they were good, they would disable it before they started
looking for its owners. He hoped Swilja had not decided to wait in the
landspeeder itself. She didn't make the impression to be quite that naïve,
but you could never know.

Luke, when he had been fresh from the moisture farm, hadn't waited in a
speeder in a situation like this. He had tried to take on the whole gang by
himself, which had not necessarily been a better option but had at least
given Han and his Wookiee friend Chewbacca a bit more time to get the kid
out of the trouble.

Not for the first time did it occur to the Corellian that he should have
taken the time to confer with Swilja Fenn instead of trusting her to do the
right thing, but his brother-in-law had made a point of telling him to give
the Twi'lek Jedi responsibility while they were on their own.

And of course Luke was right. She could not learn to be a self-sufficient,
independent Jedi if she was not presented with situations that demanded
spur-of-the-moment decisions. Han just hoped she wouldn't make her first
wrong decision when he was with her. Knowing his luck, this was probably
exactly what would happen, though.

The Corellian shook his head, forcing himself to focus on the present
moment. If he didn't find what he had come looking for, he wouldn't even
have the satisfaction to die for a cause if worst came to worst.

By the time he had finally stumbled over the rubble pile in question and
managed to extricate a small, black transparisteel box without bringing the
whole house down on his head, blaster fire had erupted behind him. He tensed
for a moment, listening intently for the distinctive hum of a lightsaber
blade. There was none and Han frowned. He would get into trouble if he
didn't bring Luke's pupil back.

Tucking the precious box into his belt - it was about the size of his palm -
he pressed his back against the wall and made his way along it to peer into
the alley where he had parked his speeder. Opting for speed and a quick
getaway instead of a good hideout, he hadn't picked the strategically best
place to leave the vehicle. In fact, he couldn't have parked it any more
accessible for the enemy than he had.

To his surprise, there were but two Gamorreans standing guard at the X-34.
Wherever the blaster fight was taking place, it wasn't there. Which was good
for him. The pig-like aliens were easy to trick. The Corellian did his best
not to think of Swilja and the fact that she was most probably the reason
for the abundance of blaster bolts shrieking through the polluted air and
set about securing their ride back to Worlport.

*~~

This was her element. It had always been. Twi'lek females were born with a
talent to move and dance. Acrobatics were their specialty. Their grace was
renowned all through the galaxy. Swilja Fenn had learned the art of movement
from her older sisters and she had been a good pupil.

Eighteen beings were chasing her through the ruins of the old complex of
buildings and had she stopped to make a stand with her lightsaber, she would
not have survived. She knew that she was skilled with the blade, but not
against that many assailants. Master Skywalker might have been able to keep
his own, but she liked to think that he would have preferred her plan. By
far.

The sound of small pieces of rubble hitting the sandy ground alerted her to
the presence of her enemies a split-second before deadly energy ripped
through the air. By that time, though, she wasn't present anymore. Drawing
on the Force, she somersaulted forward, rolled over her shoulder, came up
and vanished behind another wall within mere moments. Behind her, the two
attackers - a Rodian and an alien of a species she had never before seen in
her life - dropped dead to the ground, hit by the respective other's bolt.

Swilja smiled, tuned her senses to her immediate environment and waited for
the next opportunity. Within minutes, she had left the group of humans and
aliens in jumbled confusion and a dozen arguments had erupted behind corners
of nearly-collapsed buildings as the ragtag assortment tried to determine
who had killed whom and whether it had been accidents or not.

While they were busy accusing each other of ulterior motives, the young Jedi
had managed to retrace her steps to the landspeeder she and Han Solo had
come in and was ready to search for the Corellian, assuming this was the
point where she came in as the rescue while he was hiding out to protect the
collected data.

She should have known better. When she carefully peeked into the alley to
check for the guard the attackers had doubtlessly left behind, she found the
X-34 undamaged and lonely, and two Gamorreans lying motionlessly in the
dirt. Puddles of oil and coolants were gathering below the vehicles their
pursuers had arrived in and Han Solo himself was about to dump a couple of
initiation keys into what seemed to have been a water cistern at some point.

The Corellian wore a satisfied grin and patted his belt as he saw her,
"Mission accomplished." The tall human pointed in the direction of the
shouting that was growing steadily louder. "Your doing?"

Swilja gave a short bow, "Stealth and cunning are two invaluable assets to a
Jedi Knight."

"This lesson can't be from Luke."

The Twi'lek cocked her head to the side, "Master Kirana Ti."

"Thought so." Han murmured, frustrated at yet another joke his
one-woman-audience had not reacted to. The only one who didn't have too much
respect for Luke to joke about him was Luke himself. "Come on. We don't need
to worry about those anymore, but I'm sure they have backup. I'd feel better
facing that from the Falcon's cockpit."

They had crossed half the distance to Worlport with the Jedi at the wheel
and Han consulting the data disk he had found in the small transparisteel
box when the Corellian motioned his accompany to stop.

"What's the problem?" Swilja's dark gaze was puzzled as she nervously
glanced over her shoulder and scanned the cloudy sky for any sign of air
reinforcements. "Shouldn't we be hurrying?"

"Probably." Han murmured, his eyes never leaving the datapad in his lap. Mon
Calamari. Roa had discovered irrefutable proof that the head of Byskaly
Enterprises, the shadow company that had tricked Cal Omas into signing the
two contracts that were presently threatening to ruin his political career
and send him into prison until the end of his life, had organized things
from the watery planet inhabited by the peaceful, amphibian alien species
that had been so vital to the success of the Alliance and later the New
Republic.

It was good data. Important data. Clear data. And it was absolutely
incomprehensible to him how someone who had expertly manoeuvred the
Alderaanian Senator into so brilliant a trap could make it so easy for
Intelligence to uncover the truth.

"General Solo? Han?! Shouldn't we be on our way?" The Twi'lek's voice
sounded definitely worried now. Instead of explaining his thoughts to her,
Han twisted in his seat and regarded the distant horizon, scanning the fog
and sand for clouds that indicated pursuit. There were none.

"Now this is a surprise." Han murmured. The dark-haired man thumbed off the
datapad and seemed to notice the Jedi's questioning stare for the first
time. "Do you think the proof is faked?" Swilja asked, having caught the
disbelieving expression on his face.

The Corellian shook his head, "Not faked. Planted."

*~~

Anandan Kele, the Senator of Ord Radama, sat alone in a small, window-less
room, the incorporation of guilty repentance. His face seemed drawn and pale
and his obsidian eyes looked incredibly sad. Then and again, he would glance
upward and into the camera that had been integrated into the interrogation
cell and open his mouth, but no sound ever came from his lips.

Mara Jade Skywalker watched the Radaman on a small screen in a nearby
office, her husband Luke next to her and the head of Radaman Security
perched on the edge of his desk. The native had seemed shaken when he had
led the Senate representative of his planet into custody and was glancing in
a mixture of awe and doubt at the two Jedi.

To the former Emperor's Hand's eyes, Kele looked guilty, but she knew Luke
was not agreeing. Not completely, at least. And to her utter surprise, she
found that she herself did not feel anger directed at Kele. That was unusual
- for all she knew, he was the one directtly responsible for an attack on her
and her husband. An attack that could have easily cost the Jedi Master's
life. Although he was standing safe by her side, the mere thought of how
close she had once again come to losing him made her tense all over.

A flash of azure met her gaze and she relaxed as she saw the small smile on
Luke's face. He would have caught her thoughts, of course, and he clearly
disapproved. Once again, as she had so often before, did she wish to have
his unshakable trust in the Light Side and in forgiveness.

"So he has asked to talk to us." She finally said, breaking the silence that
had so far lain on the room.

The Radaman nodded, "It was the first thing he said when we found him. He
was on his way back to the House of Ruling. By foot."

"Did he resist his arrest?" Luke questioned.

"No, Master Skywalker. He seemed almost relieved as we told him the Jedi
wanted him for interrogation."

Luke nodded to himself, obviously satisfied with this answer. "We would
appreciate it if we could talk to him now. Is it possible? Have you finished
your own interrogation as to the evening's events?"

The head of Security gave a short bow as an answer, "Yes, we have. You can
go in whenever you want. I will leave a protocol droid outside. It will take
you back to your suite as soon as you're finished."

"That won't be necessary," Mara interjected. Her jade eyes were hard as she
met the Radaman's gaze. Meanwhile she didn't even bother hiding the contempt
she felt towards the planet's security agents and measures. Their pacifist
orientation was no excuse - Alderaan had had excellent civil and royal
security and no standing army either. "We will be staying on our ship."

The Radaman seemed frizzled about that, "But Governor Werda…"

"Governor Werda will certainly understand our reasons. I'm sure he doesn't
want to provoke a third incident in as many days. New Republic Intelligence
won't be pleased about it as it is. No need to make it any worse."

The Security Chief straightened and did his best not to glare at Mara. The
redhead suppressed a smile. It was good if he was angry. Maybe it would
prompt him to think about more discipline and training for quicker
reactions. The male bowed again and vanished without another word.

"And you almost ripped Han's head off when he said diplomatic had never been
a word he had associated with you." Luke's voice held much more amusement
than rebuttal and Mara batted her eyes at him in a show of mock-innocence.
"This WAS diplomatic. My kind of diplomacy."

He grinned, then winced. His fingers flew to his left cheek and stopped only
millimetres from his skin. "This is annoying," he muttered.

Mara cocked a delicately-shaped eyebrow at him, "I told you to leave the
bacta badges alone."

Luke made a face, "And I told you I don't need them. Besides, the impression
I make on others suffers a lot if I look like fresh from the emergency
room."

"Right. You look really more frightening without the badges covering half of
your face."

Azure eyes looked at her incredulously, "Ouch," he said.

Mara laughed, mirth in her brilliant green orbs. "I meant respect-demanding,
of course."

"Of course." The Jedi Master shook his head and held open the door to the
investigation cell for her. She smirked as she passed him, the last vestiges
of their playful mood before they switched to the professionalism needed.
They had years ago managed to find their little tricks and techniques to not
let even the most complicated and nerve-wracking political riddles spoil
what they shared as a couple.

Anandan Kele rose immediately and bowed deeply as he recognized them. His
relief was palpable through the Force, and it seemed so genuine that the
situation started to feel surreal. Someone who had plotted the death or a
possible kidnapping should not be relieved to see the potential targets in
freedom and unharmed. Well, relatively unharmed.

"I'm so glad to see you're safe!"

Luke inclined his head in gratitude, managing to look as if they were
meeting at a banquet instead of a prison. "We appreciate your concern,
Senator."

'Do we?'

'Mara, please. Let him explain. Things might be different from how we think
it to be. Remember the cube.'

Kele shook his head, the sadness returning to push away the radiance of his
relief. "You should not be bothering with what I think or feel, Master
Skywalker. This has been my fault. Yet, by the Force, I do not know how I
could have changed the outcome."

Mara glanced at her husband and sat down in the chair opposite Kele's,
gesturing for the Senator to sit down, too. "So you admit that you have
hired these speeder bike jockeys to attack us at the conference? What were
they to do? Kill us? Kidnap us?"

The Radaman paled - the stark contrast of his white skin and dark hair and
eyes was amazing and couldn't have been painted in any way more fascinating.
But the immensity of his emotions was even more intriguing, considering the
circumstances. "No. No." He blinked as if in a daze and leaned forward,
peering in desperation into Mara's eyes. "You have to believe me when I tell
you that none of this happened on my orders. I swear it. By my life. By the
lives of my family."

"Your family." Mara repeated. "That is an interesting oath, considering that
it was most probably your wife that drugged my husband."

"Daliane?" Kele seemed devastated to the core of his being and began to
frantically shake his head. "Never! You do not understand what happened! I
never wanted it to go this far, but what was I to do?"

"Maybe you should explain things from the beginning, Senator." Luke's voice
was still gentle, but there was wariness about his eyes that suggested he
was not only going by his instincts and tried to take the facts into
account, too. She knew from experience how difficult this was for him - if
his heart told him something his head could not believe.

"It is all because of this old contract."

The Jedi Master frowned, "A contract?"

The Radaman nodded, "Yes! You see, my father was no politician. He was a
trader, a businessman. My family has always been wealthy, for Radaman
standards, and he was always intent to give smaller companies with original
ideas loans or hire them for transport, cheap manufacture or similar things,
to give them a chance to make something out of their own concepts."

Kele scooted a little closer to the former farmboy and Luke saw no reason to
not let him. The moment the word contract had fallen, he had felt like a
current of electricity had run through him. This sounded awfully familiar.

Mara seemed to think so, too. The hostility had left her eyes and she was
leaning forward to study the Senator's facial expressions as she urged him
to continue.

Anandan Kele cleared his throat, "Naturally, a good number of these small
businesses went broke before there was ever a chance to fulfil the contracts
that had been signed. Most of these written agreements have been forgotten
over the years."

"Not all, though." Luke murmured. It was more a statement than a question,
but the Radaman didn't seem to catch that.

"Yes! Several weeks ago, I was sought out by a human of fine breed, as it
seemed, though he never told me his name. Much less the one of his superior
or the company he was working for. He showed a contract to me, signed by my
father twenty-five years ago, about a trade arrangement between my family's
holding and a small business association on Mon Calamari."

"Hence your insistence that the offer from that planet eclipsed all other
potential trade partners." Mara surmised.

Kele nodded, "I was bound by the contract. I could not refute that or I
would have ruined all my family. We all have shares in my father's company,
Master Jedi. Had I refused, I would have taken dozens of people that I love
with me into disaster. And truth be told, I didn't see why I should refuse
in the first place. There was the matter of a route through Yuuzhan Vong
space, but I figured that the Senate would outright forbid it and would
order the contract annulled. Instead…."

"Instead?" Luke prompted.

"Instead my 'contact' presented me with the draft of a plan that would mean
financial support from the New Republic and the trade we so desperately
need. It was a way to save my whole planet. And it was all perfectly legal,
you see. I was just fulfilling a contract. It was the human's idea to
specifically address the Jedi….. he 'proposed' it…" Anandan's sneer was
freely showing how much choice he had really had, "and it was too late for
me to refuse. Through subcontracts, he had me where he wanted me. I could
not go before a court either - he had demanded nothing illegal from me."

"So what you're saying is he used you to manoeuvre us into place. And you
had no choice." Mara summarized.

Kele sighed deeply, "I had a bad feeling ever since he insisted that I
should address only to Master Skywalker. I was afraid he would use the
opportunity to do the New Republic harm in some way or the other. I still
never expected….. I didn't expect he would try to kill you. I was sure the
first assassination attempt was meant for me. It was just a sham, but I just
didn't… COULDN'T believe he would try to ambush you. I…. I'm not really
familiar with all this intrigue and bloodlust." The tall humanoid was
broadcasting insecurity and shame in waves so strong that it was difficult
not to drown in them, even for a Jedi Master with strong shields.

A memory flashed through Luke's head all of a sudden, a small detail that
had been buried under so many other impressions during the past few hours
that he might have almost forgotten it.

"Senator Kele - the man you met with during the conference. Just before the
second attempt was made. Was this your contact?"

"Yes. It was the second time we met in person. Again, he didn't give me his
name. I didn't even understand why he had come to Ord Radama until the
attackers arrived."

"He wanted us dead and you blamed for it." Mara glanced at Luke and saw at
the set of his jaw that he had come to the same conclusion.

"Your contact didn't tell you the name of the company that had taken the
contract over either." It was another statement and Kele's silence was
answer enough. "There are security cameras in the reception hall of the
House of Ruling. The head of Security told us. With a little bit of luck, we
will get a holo of your contact. Certainly not a perfect one, but I think it
will suffice."

Kele frowned, "You have a suspicion, Master Skywalker?"

"If he has, it will be better for you if you're not privy to it. You'll be
in enough trouble as it is to prove that you had only the best interests of
your planet at heart. An advice from me, Senator," Mara rose and smiled at
him. No matter how ridiculous his story might sound to some, in the context
of the things she knew, Luke knew, it made perfect sense. And explained all
the weird emotions they had been picking up ever since they had met Anandan
Kele. "Block your bank account. Whoever your ominous future business partner
was, he'll try to make it appear as if you've been paid for luring my
husband and me to Ord Radama. And you don't want to face these charges. They
are difficult to refute."

The Radaman had blanched even more at her insinuation. Leaving the non-human
to his own problems after a goodbye more hearty than the Senator had
expected - they could really not help him much except giving their truthful
testimony - Luke and Mara decided to take care of everything else from the
Jade Sabre. Camera data could be transferred easily without personal
interaction between beings - they would have R2 hack into Radaman Security's
computer. It would be safer for both them and the Radamans - whoever had
tried to have the Jedi killed the evening before might still be on planet
and very intent on preventing them from getting a glimpse of his face.

"You know," Luke said as they were finally sealing the ramp from the inside
of his wife's ship, "I think we might have found our link between this trade
matter and the accusations against Cal."

Mara nodded thoughtfully, "I was thinking the same. But how do we fit into
this? We thought this would go against the New Republic, but I'm not so sure
anymore. Not after they almost killed you yesterday."

"And not after the holo cube Leia received." The Jedi Master leant against
the bulkhead and sought the eyes of his wife, "This is getting really
interesting."

Mara laid both her arms on his shoulders and looked up at him, "We need to
go back to Coruscant and tell Leia what we have learnt. And we should try to
talk to Cal Omas. He didn't want to see your sister, but he can no longer
refuse if you make it official. Things are getting too narrow for him."

"You're right. But first I need to check whether Han has reported in." A
spike of worry shot through her husband's presence in the Force and Mara
softly hugged him close, "He'll be okay, Luke. It's Han."

Luke laughed softly, "Mara, you should know by now that this is as much a
reason to worry as a reassurance."

*~~

He was reading the reports and wondering whether he should feel satisfied or
not. To weigh simple efficiency against the utmost revenge was difficult.
Dealing with the people he loathed more than anything or anyone else in the
universe held risks. Great risks. The longer it took him to bring his
schemes to fruition, the closer he would come to being associated with the
events.

Yet the closer they came to him, the deeper would be the relish he felt when
he could eventually do away with them in person.

"Why has Cros failed? I provided him with all the necessary data."

The question was directed at the hologram of a spindly human that was
standing at attention in front of his desk, his expression even more sour
than usual.

"It seems Skywalker resisted the drug. We don't know how."

Cold eyes narrowed, "My orders were clear. If they cannot be captured alive
- if Skywalker cannot be captured alive -- then he is to die."

"Master, it is not easy to capture a Jedi. Skywalker is…"

"I KNOW Skywalker." The feral sneer sent the human a step back despite the
fact that they were not even on the same pla net and he quickly bowed in
deference. He knew his Master's anger and how unhealthy it was to be at the
business end of it. "This is why we're doing this, remember?"

"Of course, Master."

There was a short, uncomfortable silence and when it was finally broken, the
anger had left and been replaced by determination and gleeful expectation.
"All we need is a bit more patience. They will come to me. Eventually, they
will come to me."

To Be Continued

In The Shadows

By Sienn

Rating: PG - 13

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Spoilers: See Chapter 1

Chapter 7

Reunions in her family were always precious. Too often had her loved ones
been scattered all over the galaxy, fighting perils of the most terrifying
sort, and she had been unable to get word of them. Over the years, the
development of a Force bond with her brother had made long separations
easier, giving her at least a small means to keep tabs on one of the people
that meant most to her in the universe.

If emotions were logical, it should have been less of a problem to her with
every new mission she saw her family go on. Feelings, however, were hardly
logical. And when Leia Organa Solo felt the presence of the Jedi Master
approach, there was no way for her to stay seated in the big, fluffy
armchair that dominated the small guestroom they had set up as a nursery for
their nephew. Little Ben Skywalker's parents seldom wanted to part with
their son, but every now and then, their duties to the Jedi and the New
Republic would create the need for a babysitter. As long as she could
squeeze it into her time table, Leia would not tolerate that they took
anyone else but her for the task.

The Chief of State shot a quick glance at the artfully conceived Alderaanian
cradle she had bought almost two decades ago for her twins, Jaina and Jacen,
and smiled as she saw the toddler caught in a peaceful midday slumber. He
would not mind her short absence.

Leia left the chamber without so much as a sound to disturb the infant and
quickly made her way through the living room towards the door. It slid open
before she had reached it, revealing the figures of Luke Skywalker and his
wife Mara. The redhead gave her a broad smile, but kept in the background
for the moment. In the years of marriage to the Jedi Master, she had learnt
that these first few moments were for the twins only. Leia appreciated this
- this and many other similar gestures haad allowed her to gradually rebuild
her friendship to the other woman following the tragedies that had occurred
at the final stage of the war against the Yuuzhan Vong

There was no animosity left between them. Mara Jade had committed a grave
mistake, but she was genuinely sorry and had done her best to make up for
it. It had been an easy task as far as Luke had been concerned. Leia had
held onto her wariness and hesitancy somewhat longer, maybe only to press
her point, but with Ben's birth, she had no longer found it in herself to
put a strain on her relationship to her sister-in-law.

These thoughts evaporated as if they had never existed in the first place as
the petite woman folded into the strong embrace of her brother and allowed
herself a few moments to simply bask in his scent and his physical
proximity, silently thanking the Force that it had once again decided to not
take him from her.

Only after her need to feel him safe and sound in her arms had been
satisfied did Leia step away from him, their hands intertwined between them.
Chocolate eyes travelled over his face, scanning for the smallest sign of a
wound or a scar. Luke Skywalker smiled. "I'm fine, Leia."

As if she didn't believe him and wanted to make sure, the Princess lifted a
hand and trailed her fingers over his cheek. The Jedi Master rolled his
azure eyes, "There wasn't even much to begin with, you know." He explained,
playfully batting her inquisitive appendage away.

Leia sighed, "I told you to take care. Why don't you ever listen to me?" She
softly shook her head and smiled at him. It was a very familiar argument
between them - one that had been settled a long, long time ago. At some
point in the Civil War, Leia had understood that there was no way to keep
Luke out of trouble. It found him everywhere. Especially if he tried to
avoid it. With time, the obligatory argument had become an expression of
deep affection, a series of expressions and sentences that meant as much 'I
love you' as the magical three words themselves. "I should be angry with
you, you know."

Luke breathed a kiss onto her forehead, "I know. That's why I brought you
something from Ord Radama."

"He wanted to bribe you." Mara smirked and turned towards the bags that the
droids had meanwhile brought in. The beautiful woman stooped low for a
moment and came back up with an elongated box of silver paper. Golden lines
traced the pictures of a flower and Luke grinned broadly as he took the gift
from his wife and handed it over to his sister.

"Ord Radama is renowned for his sweets. You'll adore them, I tell you. They
are magnificent."

"And we even made sure they aren't drugged." Mara added.

Leia perched an eyebrow as she looked from her sister-in-law to her brother,
"Drugged?"

The Jedi Master shrugged - a slightly sheepish look graced his features. "It
turned out they got me with the pralines that were served at the feast. They
were injected with enough of that knock-out drug to send me into
unconsciousness for several days on end. And not only those I ate." Luke
slipped out of his cloak. "Our mysterious foe knew that Radaman customs
wouldn't permit any of the hosts to eat from the display set up for the
guests."

"Maybe he simply didn't care." Mara remarked and took her turn embracing
Leia. "Either he is pretty sneaky or pretty merciless. Probably both."

"And we don't have any lead as to who he is. Or who she is." The petite
Alderaanian surmised darkly while she gestured for her brother and his wife
to follow her to the living room.

"We have the holo of the human that came to meet Anandan Kele just before we
were attacked at the reception hall. If we're right and Cal recognises him
as Ethmak Dren. it'll be a step in the right direction." Luke reminded. "It
will prove a link between these two affairs."

"But it won't tell us where to go from there." Mara scanned the chamber and
sent Leia a questioning look. The other woman pointed towards the door to
the nursery, "Ben's asleep. He's been a good boy and has kept his midday
naps all the time." Together the three of them made their way over to the
only half closed door and peered into the gloom to get a glimpse of the
little child. Blue eyes, awake and delighted, were looking back at them and
Ben lifted his arms in greeting. He wasn't wailing, though, as if he knew
that his parents would not hesitate to come to him now that they had seen
that he wasn't sleeping anymore. It wasn't long indeed until his father
picked him up and his mother nuzzled his cheek. Ben cooed and gurgled, his
childish language music to Luke's and Mara's ears.

"He'll soon be able to say Mommy and Daddy."

The Jedi Master's eyes lit up in joy at his sister's words, "You think?"

Leia laughed at her brother's rapt expression, "Your niece and nephews were
about that age when they managed."

Luke was evidently enthralled by the possibility and laid his forehead to
the child's smaller one. "You heard your aunt? You're going to be as quick
as them, aren't you?" Ben's chubby hands found his father's cheeks and
patted eagerly as the boy squealed and giggled. The Force vibrated with his
happiness to have his parents back with him. "Right," Luke grinned at his
son, "You're going to be quicker."

"And for it works so well on your Aunt," Mara gently took the infant from
her husband's arms and situated him safely in her embrace, "your father and
I have brought something to bribe you, too."

Minutes later, Ben sat between his parents on Leia's couch and suckled with
devotion on a praline of his own, under the ever watchful eyes of Mara and
one of his hands clutching at Luke's fingers, as if the little boy didn't
intend to let his parents get out of sight again any time soon.

Mara was surprised at how happy it made her to know that her little baby had
missed her and she felt her husband's fascination at the maze of simple, but
deep emotions that emitted from the little human. She felt his Force
presence mingle with the one of Ben - an instinctive process on the child's
part, but very much intentional on the man's.

"When will we meet with Cal Omas?" Although the former Emperor's Hand could
have sat all day watching their son, she knew that there were more pressing
matters to attend to. Matters that would ultimately decide whether there
would be more time for her and Luke to spend with Ben.

Leia tore her gaze away from the toddler and focused on the beautiful
redhead opposite her. "Later this afternoon. We'll wait for Han - the Falcon
is scheduled to land in two hours from now. I'd like to hear what he has
found out on Ord Mantell."

"So he contacted you? Everything is okay with him?" Luke chimed in without
averting his eyes from his son. He knew that Han was okay - not only because
Leia had not contacted him anymore before they had left Ord Radama, but also
because the Force told him that his best friend was okay.

His sister smiled. Her relief was palpable, "Yes. He said they ran into some
trouble, but he didn't want to go into any more details on the comm. You
know him - he enjoys leaving me in the dark until I can't help it and start
to try and worm it out of him."

Mara snorted, "I know someone else that enjoys doing that."

Luke cocked an eyebrow, but didn't deign to answer. Instead he wiped Ben's
hands with a clean cloth and offered him another praline. The infant didn't
hesitate and stuffed it greedily into his mouth. "Maybe he has discovered
something that will prove Cal's innocence. If he's putting up such an act,
he'll have something of importance to share."

"We'll find out soon enough," Mara caressed through the blond hair of her
son and smiled broadly as he grinned his adorable grin back at her. "You
arranged something for Ben while we're gone?"

Leia pursed her lips and a wave of annoyance rolled through her. She quickly
quenched it, reminding herself of how protective she had been if it came to
her children as they had been small and helpless. "Of course I did. There'll
be five Noghri watching over him, plus 3PO."

The former Emperor's Hand acknowledged that with a nod and a smile and the
Alderaanian leaned back in her seat. It was good to be back to a friendship
with Mara. It complemented their family. As soon as Han would have landed on
the planet, everything would be perfect.

*~~

Dusk was obscuring the view onto Coruscant's sky by the time the Millenium
Falcon settled on the personal landing platform of the Chief of State. For a
short moment, the hissing of the steam and the hollow thumps of the landing
struts as they found a secure hold on the permacrete drowned out the howl of
the wind. Nightly storms were usual during the planet's spring season and
quite often a problem to pilots. Not to Han Solo, though. He sat the
freighter down as softly as if he were putting a baby to bed and not a
minute passed until the ramp began to lower.

The first form to materialize against the backdrop of the ship's illuminated
innards was small and lanky. Her head-tails flapped leisurely against her
back as Swilja Fenn made her way down to the end of the ramp and bowed
respectfully in front of the group of people that had awaited their arrival.
Leia acknowledged the greeting with a nod and a warm smile, while both Luke
and Mara reciprocated the bow.

"It is good to see you again, Knight Fenn. I trust your mission went well?"
Luke smiled at the beautiful Twi'lek and bit down a smirk as he felt her
signature glow with enthusiasm. He had known - instinctively - that teaming
up with Han would be good for the young woman. Her skills were extraordinary
and she possessed a sharp mind - experience was what she lacked. She tended
to theorize everything. Working with Han must have felt chaotic to her at
first, but if he had been right, it would have loosened her up just enough
to make her ready for solitary missions, if she so wished.

"I think it did, Master." Hazel eyes glanced backwards and a smile played
around her full lips, "It was in any case a very interesting experience."

The Jedi Master grinned, "I hoped it would be. You will have your
impressions ready?"

"By tomorrow, Master."

Luke nodded in satisfaction. He had found mentions of a huge, detailed
library that had been maintained by the Old Jedi Order some time ago, during
his study of old records and ancient books, and he had been fascinated by
the concept. He was naturally aware that this amount of knowledge could not
simply be conjured up from one second to the other, but he was intent on
rekindling the idea and creating a library for the New Order.

And while he had made contact with the Galactic Archives on Coruscant to ask
for their cooperation, inspiration had hit him. A mere day later, he had
proposed to the assembled Jedi to have them write a very special kind of
report after every mission they undertook. It was not supposed to be a paper
written according to strict rules - it wasn't destined to resemble a
military report. What he wanted was a huge databank of impressions,
experiences, of personal lessons the single Jedi had learned and that they
could share with their brothers and sisters to give them advice and courage.

Tionne had happily accepted the duty of upholding the library-to-be - her
element was history, knowledge. Swilja Fenn would offer the first entry.

"I'm looking forward to read it."

"Me, too," the deep voice of Han Solo interrupted as the tall Corellian
sauntered towards them and gave her a grin, "I want to see what complaints
she will come up with."

The Twi'lek's smile broke into a broad grin of her own as she turned her
head and looked up at the human. "Not too many, I think. The trip was.
enlightening."

Han's expression grew smug and his hazel eyes twinkled as he gave a short
bow, doing an extraordinary job mimicking the one she had given him on Ord
Mantell, after their run-in with the local low-lives. "Most women say that
after they have had the luck to encounter me."

Luke had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing out loud.
Swilja's cheeks had coloured deeply and she was nothing short of gaping at
the Corellian, flustered by his insinuation and obviously insecure whether
he was serious or not. Then she caught sight of the petite Alderaanian
princess that was coming up behind her husband and rolling her eyes at her
and understood what was going on.

The aspiring young Jedi pursed her lips and cocked an eyebrow at her
temporary comrade-in-arms, "I will certainly mention in my report that the
typical Corellian ego sure matches the scale of a sun and that it is just as
annoying as it is said to be." She bowed quickly and gave her goodbyes
before she excused herself and hurried down the corridor to the lift tubes
as quickly as it was possible if you were intent on projecting a picture of
intact composure. The Twi'lek still couldn't completely suppress the smile
that was once again nipping at her and she knew perfectly well that the
others had seen it.

Only when the doors of the lift tube had slid closed did she allow herself
to slowly shake her head. This mission had been utterly interesting and she
would have many things to ponder.

Back on the rooftop, Han Solo was following the lanky figure with his eyes
and chuckled, "Well, that was a start. If she manages to put more bite into
fewer words, she'll yet make a spiffy lady."

"Surviving all these days alone with you should count for something." Leia
said as she slung her arms around her husband's waist and tipped up her head
for the welcome kiss she had been longing for ever since he had left the
planet. Her Corellian didn't let her wait and Luke and Mara both left them
their moments of privacy. Both Jedi shared a smile and their hands found
each other almost instinctively - too much of themselves did they see in
these two lovers reunited after days of worry and potential disaster.

Finally the Chief of State and her husband separated and Han focused his
attention on his brother-in-law. "So, kid, I heard you've run into trouble
on Ord Radama?"

Luke's azure eyes widened in surprise, "How do you.. Oh well, forget it. I
probably don't want to know how many shady spice den inhabitants are keeping
tabs on my bungled missions."

The Jedi Master's sister stared at the Corellian, her expression smooth and
unreadable, "Maybe I want to know with how many shady spice den inhabitants
you have hung out, though."

Han grinned, "Love, all my old-time buddies are shady spice den inhabitants.
That's why they know all those things. Spice dens are as wealthy a source of
information as any planetary library if you know how to sift through all the
gibberish."

"Oh, I know, dear, I know," Leia had assumed an expression of gentle
resignation and her chestnut eyes glimmered with mirth. "I just wish you
wouldn't actually have fun doing it."

Han just shrugged and turned back to Luke, "For once, though, my source is
less conspicuous. I listened to the galactic news on the way down. The
assassination attempt on you and Mara is all over the waves. It's not every
day that a New Republic Senator is involved in an intrigue spun against the
head of the Jedi Order." He paused for a moment and cut his eyes on his
brother-in-law, mustering him up and down before doing the same for the
former Emperor's Hand. "You okay, right?"

Luke smiled, "I'm fine. Got grazed by some enemy fire, but it was nothing
serious."

"I managed to duck in time," Mara supplied smoothly at Han's inquisitive
stare.

"Oh, quit it," The Jedi Master murmured, "I was handicapped, you know. I
would have ducked had I been able to."

The Corellian frowned, "Handicapped?"

"Seems the newsvids don't know about the drug yet. Fortunately!" Leia seemed
relieved at that. There was no need to let the galaxy know just how close it
had been for her brother.

"Drug? What are you talking about?" Han's well-groomed confidence had
evaporated and worry was contorting his features as he frowned in
irritation, "Someone care to let me in on the details?"

"We'll tell you everything," Mara assured him, glancing at her wrist
chronometer, "But on the way to Cal Omas. If I have my arrestee regulations
down right, we'll have but an hour to get all our questions answered,
considering the gravity of the charges brought up against him."

Leia nodded. Her mood had darkened the moment her compatriot had been
mentioned and she was already directing her steps toward the lift tubes,
tugging at Han's sleeve for him to follow. "Maybe I can get two hours. I am
the Chief of State, after all. But I can't stretch regulations too much or
I'll be accused of power abuse for personal matters. That would not help to
make my testimony more credible if it comes to a trial. It's bad enough that
we're from Alderaan, Cal and I. They will take whatever I say in his favour
with a grain of salt. Misunderstood loyalty or whatever the official term
is."

"If it comes to a trial, yeah." Han mumbled.

His wife stared at him and he felt the eyes of his brother-in-law and Mara
on him, too.

Luke was the first to break the stunned silence and address Han as they
stepped into the elevator and thumbed in their destination, "You found
something on Ord Mantell, I take it?"

The Corellian nodded, "You could say that. I just don't know what to make
out of it yet," He held up a hand to stall any further inquiry, "Let's talk
to Omas first. If I see what you have found on Ord Radama.. Maybe everything
will fit together."

Mara leant against the back wall of the lift cabin and stared thoughtfully
into nothingness, "So you also think all of this is connected."

"It's all speculation at this point." Leia interrupted. For some reason, the
thought that all of this could have been engineered to get at them, at her
and her family, scared her profoundly. It would mean the one pulling the
strings in the background wasn't only incredibly resourceful and
influential. it also meant he - or she - was driven by a hatred of such
depth that no scheme would be too elaborate to achieve the desired outcome.

"Don't forget the holo cube, Leia. After all we've found out in the past few
days, I'd be surprised if all this were not connected in some way or the
other." Luke reminded. His voice and his signature in the Force were both
tinged with worry - worry for all of them and for all the innocents that
might still be dragged into this. Innocents like Anandan Kele. But there was
also determination simmering underneath the surface. Her brother was not
intimidated - in effect, she felt as if he might even be somewhat intrigued
by what was going on.

"Holo cube?" Han groaned, "There I'm on vacation for a couple of days and
look what happens. You have a lot of filling in to do tonight,
Highnessness."

Leia smiled, "Most of it you'll learn in a couple of minutes only."

The lift came to a halt and they stepped out into a corridor deep in the
lower levels of the Imperial Palace. The area that was reserved for
political arrestees did not have any windows, for safety reasons, and was
heavily guarded. While the war with the Empire had still raged, it had
provided a safe heaven for political refugees seeking asylum within the New
Republic. Later, during the Yuuzhan Vong conflict, New Republic Intelligence
had moved its headquarters into this area for maximum security. After the
peace treaty with the extragalactic alien race, the corridors and rooms had
been abandoned. When Cal Omas had been charged with corruption and treason,
rather than sending him to a public penitentiary, the Advisory Council had
decided to hold him here until his trial and the subsequent judgement.

The vote had been nearly unanimous - only Fyor Rodan of Commenor had voted
against this added precaution and Leia remembered the spike of suspicion
that had shot through her as he had so vehemently protested against the
Council's intent. Why had he done so? Was it a personal wrath against the
Alderaanian Senator? Or were there shadier, ulterior motives behind his
actions?

Leia straightened. She could not burden her thoughts with these suspicions
while she was talking to Cal Omas. She glanced at her brother. Luke wore an
expression of deep concentration and his eyes swirled almost cobalt with the
thoughts that were flying through his brain. Her sister-in-law, Mara, nodded
to the guards stationed on every side of the door that gave to Omas'
temporary quarters and Han had a broody air about him that made her curious.

If nothing else, the impending talk should reveal to hear what her husband
had found on Ord Mantell and what trouble exactly had befallen him.

*~~

"This is Ethmak Dren," The voice of Cal Omas, Senator of Alderaan currently
suspended from his duties and awaiting trial for his alleged crimes, held
profound disbelief as he regarded the hazy holographic image that hovered
above the small, portable projector Luke Skywalker had brought with him.
Four pairs of eyes had been resting on him while the Jedi Master had set up
the device and positioned it as close to the invisible sensory line that
divided the room into half.

Driven by a wish for increased aestheticism in prisons - and by the bribes
of several wealthy inhabitants of said institutions - scientists had
recently turned their attention on means and ways to confine a person and
guarantee the safety of the visitors without the need to resort to cuffs and
shackles.

The regular penitentiaries had mostly refused to adopt these new
technologies, insisting on the way the more archaic means of restraint
instilled a deep humility in the convicts that only aided their redemption
and their reintegration into society and its rules.

Luke had never put much thought into this argument - he had come to the
conclusion, indeed, that whereas or not such a humiliation had any effect on
the subject largely depended on the degree to which the criminal had already
succumbed to his very personal Dark Side. Darkness was not dependent on
Force sensitivity. If it were so, he mused, the galaxy would be a by far
safer place to live in.

The sensory line that divided the room would note every breach of perimeter
from either side's part. The visitors would be shown out of the room should
they cross it - by hand, foot or any other body part - more than two times.
By the very first breach, the imprisoned would be stunned and brought out of
the room, suffering a stop of visits for at least a week following the
incident.

All these thoughts flashed through his mind as if they wanted to shield his
conscience from the words the Alderaanian Senator had just uttered. This was
Ethmak Dren. The spindly, emaciated human with the steely blue eyes and
close-cropped, dirty-blond hair that had used Anandan Kele to manoeuvre him
and Mara into place for an attempt on their lives - or an attempt to hijack
them, Luke still didn't know which one he should believe in - was the same
that had lured Cal Omas into a contract that could prove fatal for his
career.

"Of course," the elderly human continued softly, "I cannot tell you whether
that is his real name."

"I bet it isn't. Look at what the guy engineered so far. If he has brains
enough to do that, he won't be so stupid as to introduce himself with his
real name." Han was at his brother-in-law's side in a series of quick steps,
leaving his wife standing leant against the wall opposite her compatriot, a
shocked and grim expression marring her delicate, aristocratic face.

"This tells us the Ord Radama matter and the accusations against Senator
Omas are related." Mara agreed. Her features didn't translate any relief,
though. "It unfortunately doesn't constitute an evidence for his innocence,
yet."

Cal Omas closed his eyes briefly in resignation and even though he found a
small smile in himself, somewhere, his grey eyes held sadness as he sought
the gaze of the former Emperor's Hand, "I might have been a pawn only - the
holo cube you received, Leia, suggests that - but I was. I am a pawn that is
not supposed to survive the game."

The Princess pressed her lips together and it was obvious she was trying to
find words of encouragement for her friend, but there were none that came to
her. Eventually, she closed her eyes, too, and whispered, "I'm so sorry,
Cal."

"Don't get all depressed yet." Han interrupted. He dug his hand into one of
his pants' bags and brought out a small data disk that he flipped onto the
table with a sure aim, having it skirt against Luke's hand and bump against
the portable holo player. "That's what I found on Ord Mantell."

"Where?" Leia had pushed off the wall and was approaching with a mix of
curiosity and renewed hope sparkling in her eyes.

Han gave her a lop-sided grin, "Smuggler's secret, darling."

"Han," Mara looked at him in astonishment, "You know that the court won't
accept evidence that doesn't stem from well-determined and legal sources."

The Corellian snorted, "The source is perfectly legal, I assure you.
Business data from the Ord Mantell Company Registry. It's just not been me
who's collected it."

Luke frowned up at him, "You know that a burglar's not a legal source, don't
you?"

Han cut his eyes at his brother-in-law and made a face at him, "You're so
smug, kid. Really, I swear, this data hasn't been collected in an illegal
way. A friend of mine did the investigation, under the guise of his own
company. I figured it would alert whoever trapped Cal if Han Solo were to
investigate personally in the matter. No one would get suspicious if my
friend did it, though."

Leia grinned, "So that's an official proof Cal's lawyer can present?"

"You bet, Princess. And it will be a good one, too."

Luke pressed a button on the holo player and a series of files materialized
in the air between them. Simultaneously the group of five bent forward and
studied the letters that took shape.

"I don't believe it," Mara murmured.

Han was immediately annoyed, "I told you my source was."

"That's not what she means, Han." Luke assured. He met his best friend's
gaze and gestured towards the glimmering data. "Anandan Kele told us that he
was forced to adhere to a contract that would bind him to a specific planet
- that would necessarily bind him to a sppecific space route, too."

The Corellian stared, "Don't tell me it was Mon Calamari."

Luke nodded, "It was Mon Calamari."

"So what we have is this," Leia surmised, "Ethmak Dren posed as the
spokesman of a company he claimed to have its seat on Ord Mantell. Fact is,
as Han found out, that Byskaly Enterprises hails from Mon Calamari.
According to Luke and Mara - and ultimately according to Anandan Kele - the
one to force him into this whole matter of a space lane through the Yuuzhan
Vong cluster pressured him to support a contract with a company that is also
situated on Mon Calamari."

"We know it has been the same man - he spoke to Cal and he spoke to Kele. No
doubt Byskaly Enterprises is a shadow business altogether." Mara added.

"Everything runs together on Mon Calamari," Luke murmured, frowning at the
device as if it were its fault that this complicated maze of deception was
having such an impact on all their lives. "What is it that worries you,
Han?"

The Corellian blinked. Belatedly he realized what had happened and grimaced
at his brother-in-law, "I wish you wouldn't do that."

The Jedi Master shrugged apologetically, "Sorry. You were broadcasting
loudly. Couldn't help but eavesdrop."

"Han?" Leia insisted.

"Oh well," the tall man huffed and began to pace back and forth in the small
half that was reserved for the visitors. "Look at how complicated all of
this is. Look at how they have tidied up behind themselves. You cannot prove
anything. Only some days ago we had absolutely no idea where to look - what
to look for in the first place. From the beginning we said this is the work
of a specialist. A pretty good one, too."

"And now, suddenly," Luke joined in, "all the evidence we need shows up,
with hints as clear as a holo banner pointing us to the next step of the
journey."

Han nodded in appreciation, "Exactly. I don't know about you, but to me,
this."

". stinks as rotten as a Hutt's bedchamber." Mara finished the sentence for
him.

"Couldn't have said it better," Han acknowledged.

Leia had been listening silently and now tapped her chin with her index
finger, "So what you are saying is that we're being led on a chase. And this
chase has a purpose."

"To get us killed," Mara sank onto a chair and gave the data card another
once over with her brilliant green gems.

"I'm not so sure about that," Luke objected. "You forget that they wanted to
hijack me. And Han said the trouble they ran into was minor. They weren't
even followed, although those guys must have realized they have gotten away
with the evidence."

"You don't know enough to say anything for sure. You can only speculate." It
was the first Cal Omas had said in a while and the calm words prompted all
of them to look at him. His defeatist attitude had all but disappeared and
he was leaning forward as much as he could without risking a punishing stun
bolt.

"He's right. We need more information," The former Emperor's Hand extended
an arm and switched the holo projector off, tugging it into one of her
cloak's pouches. There was a momentary silence before Luke rose from his
seat and picked up the data chip Han had brought. He held it between two
fingers for a moment, then encased it in his fist. "I'm going to go to Mon
Calamari and see whether there's more to find there. It would help if we had
the name of Byskaly Enterprise's owner. Even a fake identity should help us
some."

Mara had risen at his first sentence and was glaring at him, "You're not
going to go there. Forgot what you said yourself a couple of seconds ago?
This is another trap. Remember what happened the last time you walked right
into one, thinking if you were just ready for everything, nothing would
happen?"

Luke frowned, "I never thought that. And I very well remember the conclusion
we've come to. We still need more information. A name. A lead. Anything.
Otherwise the Senator will be convicted of a crime he has not committed and
whoever wants our hides will be able to continue for as long as he wants."

"Luke," Leia took his hand and looked up at him with pleading eyes, "Don't
rush this. We'll try other ways first. Please."

"Leia, we don't have the time to."

"Kid, she's right." Luke fell silent at the Corellian's interruption and
stared at him in undisguised surprise, "Han, you know exactly."

"Yes. I know exactly that we're running out of time and that this situation
must be solved. But I also know that whoever is behind this knows an awful
lot about us. He knew that I'm associated with Roa and tracked him so that
he could ambush me and Swilja on Ord Mantell. He knew exactly how high to
dose you to send you into coma and pick you off like a dazed squall. And now
he wants us to go to Mon Calamari following a lead that he has planted. Kid,
you know me, I'm no quitter, but there's a difference between courage and
stupidity. I don't have to explain that to you."

The room was awkwardly still for a while and all of them watched the tensed
shoulders of the Jedi Master as he considered his brother-in-law's words and
weighed them against his desire to prevent a terrible injustice and to
protect his loved ones. Finally, Luke's stance eased up and he acquiesced
with a nod. Everyone relaxed, though Han frowned as azure eyes were cut at
him, "A dazed squall?"

The Corellian grinned, "Sometimes there is an astonishing similarity, you
know."

The former farmboy seemed flustered at that, but he didn't get the
opportunity to say another word as Leia pressed his hand and stepped in
front of her husband, "Who's Roa?"

"Just an old friend of mine."

The beautiful Princess cocked her head to the side, "You never told me about
him."

"We parted ways long before we met each other, Leia. I might tell you some
time. We've more pressing matters to attend to, though. If our next step
isn't a trip to Mon Calamari, what is it instead?"

"Ackbar." Again it was the cultivated voice of Omas that focused all of
their attention. "You should contact Admiral Ackbar. He might be retired,
but he has connections. The Mon Cal revere him. He will be able to provide
you with access to every possible data about the planet that you could ask
for."

Leia's face lit up, "An excellent idea! I know that he's on planet,
actually. I'll contact him immediately." She smiled at her Alderaanian
friend, "Don't worry, Cal. We'll get to the bottom of this. Before the trial
begins." The Princess brushed a kiss over Han's lips beamed at her brother
and his wife, then she left the room in a determined pace.

The other three visitors turned to follow her.

"If you would stay for a word, please," Cal Omas quickly said, indicating
the vacated seats.

*~~

Her mood was considerably heightened as Leia made her way along the corridor
towards the lift tubes. They were still not anywhere close to finding out
who was behind all these schemes and intrigues - or to uncover which goal he
pursued - but the chance that they would manage to clear Cal before the
trial even began had just risen.

To Leia, this meant almost more than getting to the bottom of the mystery
itself. In the course of her life, she had grown used to the fact that
people wanted to kill or at the very least neutralize her. What bothered her
deeply, though, was if these people tried to use her friends to complicate
her life. Or punished them for being befriended with her in the first place.
The notion that Cal would not be victim to a ploy directed against her and
her family cheered her up and relieved her.

Her positive set of mind and her smile would have lingered somewhat longer,
though, if not for the tall figure that was travelling the corridor from the
opposite direction.

Wrapped in elegant and expensive Vedan cloth of the best quality, Fyor Rodan
of Commenor strode confidently towards her, his trademark smile the usual
testimony to his arrogance and vanity.

"Your Excellency," He bowed curtly, very curtly, and Leia felt her smile
freeze on her lips. The human Senator never showed her more than the minimum
of respect required by etiquette and she made always sure, meticulously,
that he was aware of the mutuality of his emotions.

"Senator Rodan." She inclined her head, wondering whether her tone of voice
was too cool and eventually deciding that even if it were, Fyor Rodan was
not deserving of any sparkle of warmth whatsoever. "I'm surprised to see you
here."

Dark eyes glinted at her. His smile seemed glued to his face, foreign and
stiff. She was sure he would have preferred to sneer at her, but he had had
the best aristocratic education. He would not show such feelings in front of
an adversary. "We are all free to visit Senator Omas if Intelligence cleared
us, aren't we?"

Leia folded her hands in front of her belly and did her best to smile every
bit as ugly as he, "Of course. You will understand, though, that I did not
expect you to come and support him during this trying time of injustice."

Fyor's smile broadened, "But, Your Highness, the evidence is incriminatingly
obvious. I'm persuaded of his guilt."

The Alderaanian straightened somewhat more, "Of course you are. How would it
look if you doubted the authenticity of your own proof?"

The Commenorian glared at her, "What are you suggesting, Your Excellency?"

Leia feigned surprise, "Suggesting? What am I suggesting, Fyor? I was
stating an obvious fact, was I not?"

"I get the impression you are tempted to ignore the data I've provided. I
can understand you, of course." The haughty smile had returned and he was
stepping closer to her, towering over her, and filling his voice with all
the disdain and contempt he had always held for her and her home planet.
"Senator Omas is your friend. He is from Alderaan. Tragic, what happened all
these years ago." He clucked his tongue against his teeth and was watching
her intently.

Leia did her best to keep her expression passive and swallow the rage and
hurt that were swirling in her heart. "Isn't it understandable, you will
think, that someone who has lost so much seeks to regain it? And that he
might not care for the legality of the means he uses to restore his wealth?
Maybe," he grinned and folded his arms in front of his chest, "he even
revels in the fact that he's getting back at the galaxy that has born an
evil capable of destroying a whole planet."

He sighed and nodded, sadness contorting his features. It could not soften
the evil glint in his eyes, "These are the words that travel the Senate
these days. Of course you're well aware of it. You're the President. You're
fully conscious of the delicacy of this affair, of the rumours that are
spreading, of the opinions and factions that build. You know," he leaned
forward, "the value of impartiality, Princess."

It was all Leia could do to let her hands rest on her body and not lash out
at the outrageous man. In moments like this she thought to understand best
the fascination and addiction of the Dark Side.. How satisfying would it be
to strangle all those poison-laced words out of this creature that called
himself a representative of his people?

She forced a deep breath into her lungs and pushed the rage out of her
thoughts. She would not play into his hands.

But he wanted her to do so. His words made it obvious as he continued, "And
yet, I find you here. Using your influence to extend the usual time for
visits, discussing evidence and data your husband and brother have
gathered."

He stepped even closer to her, his voice a challenging whisper, though he
made a point of keeping his hands behind his back, presenting a defenceless
attitude to the guards stationed at the lift and the doors to Cal's
quarters. They would not be able to hear the exchange between their
President and the Commenorian Senator, but she felt their vigil minds as
their loyalty to her and their suspicion of Rodan made them watch every
movement of his.

"Some might accuse you of favouritism, Leia. Others," he sneered, "might
doubt the authenticity of your proof. How easy would it be for the Chief of
State and for the Jedi Master to manipulate evidence? To fake it? To destroy
it?"

Leia's eyes narrowed. There was only so much she would take from this
insolent, self-addicted disgrace to his planet. She knew her smirk was
sinister, she knew it was the one Han called her 'Dark Side smirk', but she
did not care. "And how easy, Senator," she whispered, intoning every word
carefully, "might it be for the heir of Commenor's ruling house to do the
same?" She took a step forward and had the satisfaction to see him
instinctively retreat. "How easy, Senator Rodan, would it be for you to take
one of your lower secretaries to deliver a threat to my apartment, a
holo-cube the size of your palm, and erase all evidence? How easy would it
be to allow yourself to play a role in someone else's schemes to get rid of
me and my family, as you despise us so much?"

Rodan glared daggers at her, the grin still on his face, but with an air
more artificial than ever before, "You have no proof, Your Highness. I have.
I can prove Omas' treason."

Leia inclined her head again, in a mock-gesture of respect and relent, "Do
try. Meanwhile, I will prove YOUR treason and I will uncover in whose games
you are a little pawn, serving only to do the dirty work for your Master."

She felt the rage explode within the other at the insult as soon as the
words had left her lips, and the big hands of the much taller man took her
arms in a vice grip before she had had time to budge.

There was fear within her, but it was, absurdly, overshadowed by deep
exhilaration. He had given himself away and he knew it. It only fuelled his
fury and his words were barely constrained as his nose almost touched hers,
"Careful, Leia."

"She is not the one that should be careful, Senator." The words were sharp
and clipped and Leia saw the shock on Rodan's face as he recognised it. His
eyes strayed from hers and looked over her shoulder, seething rage mixing
with something much more primitive.

"Take your hands off my sister." Luke Skywalker's eyes burned into the other
man's and the glimmer of defiance that had started to appear left Rodan as
quickly as air sucked into vacuum. The Senator withdrew his hands and took a
step back, though the rage had not vanished from his eyes.

He was trying to compose himself, though, no doubt aware of the situation's
potential for disaster. Disaster for him. In a time that should rightfully
see him triumph, he could not allow himself a blunder.

Then again, Fyor Rodan was a proud man and the jibe of the Alderaanian had
stung him deeply. "I didn't intend to hurt her. I was caught up in the
moment." He hissed, "The times are trying, Master Jedi."

Luke had stepped forward, putting Leia behind himself, despite the fact that
he knew she would be telling him that she were perfectly capable to take
care of herself soon enough. He did not care. "They are, Senator."

"And I don't react well to insults. The Princess should consider her words
more carefully." His voice was acid as he glowered at Leia over the Jedi's
shoulder. She merely cocked an eyebrow at him, the simple gesture a clear
indication that she had been serious. Her audacity appalled him.

However, he had not been aware of his mistake. The chocolate eyes of the
woman had held a challenge. The azure pools that were seeking his gaze now
held a warning. A merciless one, at that. "I advise you to consider your
actions more carefully, Senator Rodan." Luke Skywalker was leaning forward
in much the same manner Rodan had done with Leia mere seconds ago, but there
was no impassioned rage lurking under his words. There was cold
determination and even with all the despise Rodan held for the man, he was
not fool enough to challenge the leader of the Jedi Order. "Make this
personal, touch my sister ever again, and you will regret it."

He didn't wait for an answer. Instead, the Jedi Master straightened and took
a step away, "Apology accepted, Senator Rodan. You have things to see to,
I'm sure."

The blood had drained from the Commenorian's face and he was quivering in a
mixture of fear and rage as he bowed ever so curtly, turned on his heels and
stalked off to the lift tubes. The farther he got away, the more his fear
evaporated and the more his rage grew.

"He's in deep, I tell you." Leia commented, straightening her gown, as if
nothing had happened. Luke followed the Senator's steps until the lift doors
had closed, then turned around abruptly and worriedly eyed his sister, "Are
you okay? Did he hurt you?"

The petite woman smiled, "Not really. He did me a favour."

Luke frowned, "He did? By threatening you?"

She nodded, "Exactly. He gave himself away. It was worth it. Besides," she
came to him, rose on her tip toes and brushed her lips over his in an
affectionate display of sisterly love, "I knew I didn't have to be afraid
with my brother around." Leia smirked, "Either you'd have chopped him to
pieces or Han would have grilled a hole into his head."

Luke battled unsuccessfully against a smile of his own, "Still, I'd never
have thought he'd go this far. Another lead to follow."

"Certainly." Leia craned her neck, "Where are Han and Mara anyway?"

"Senator Omas wanted to know more about the investigations about Pwoe's and
Niuv's ties to smugglers. I figured the two experts should stay. Besides, I
felt..."

". the need to protect your sister?"

Now Luke smiled broadly - a bashful, endearing smile, "Guilty as charged."

Leia laughed and kissed him again, "You're forgiven."

To Be Continued

In The Shadows

By Sienn

Rating: PG - 13

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Spoilers: See Chapter 1

Chapter 8

It was a world of scent and sound that welcomed him readily and let him
forget the rest of the galaxy, the rest of the universe even. Unimportant
details and urgent problems alike evaporated into nothingness as petal lips
captured his and the spicy odour of his wife's hair encircled him. Her thick
locks impishly tickled the sensitive skin of his cheeks and neck as her
slender form merged against his body in a familiar rhythm that never failed
to draw him in and hypnotize him, until all his attention was focused solely
on her and on nothing else.

Tender hands wandered over him and seemed to be everywhere at once,
caressing, teasing, tickling, gently pinching and ultimately making him lose
the last threads of control he had still retained.

Luke Skywalker's hands enclosed the face of his spouse and while he rolled
her onto her back, he marvelled at how perfectly this vision of beauty
seemed to fit into their palms. As if it belonged there - and it did, in a
way. He felt her mouth curve into a grin as she caught his possessive
thoughts and - unwilling to interrupt their intimate moment - thrust his
tongue only deeper to meet hers, tasting the only thing sweeter than
chocolate and more addictive than spice.

There was a short moment when he feared she would draw away and drive home
her point, her assessment of who belonged to whom, but she didn't. Instead
her legs - oh so shapely - came around his hips and her arms curved around
his neck in a claiming gesture of her own.

A last check told him his barriers were firmly in place so that not a
flicker of emotion would disturb their small son and Luke allowed himself to
sink back into the sea of bliss that was as much a refuge from reality as a
source of strength, into the love that was Mara.

There was no awareness except the one of her skin against his and the heat
of passion that wrapped around him like a cocoon, hotter even than
Tatooine's twin suns and yet so much more welcome and craved as the night
sped past.

*~~

Two of Coruscant's moons were full this night, casting their pale rays into
the chambers of the population and illuminating the darkness. It was said
that it was a sign of good luck when in a night so clear there were two of
the city planet's accompanies to be seen and Mara Jade Skywalker smiled at
the strange way this legend fitted with her present reality.

She had no idea what time it was and she didn't bother to check for it
either. On the contrary, she was perfectly satisfied to lie in her bed and
watch her husband as he slept peacefully at her side. The peculiar shade of
moonlight gave the scenery a surreal quality, an otherworldly atmosphere, as
it highlighted the smooth face of the man she loved.

At the age of forty-five, there was not much that separated him from the
spindly young man she had first met so many years ago. Fine lines at the
corners of his eyes gave him away, somewhat, but they brought to mind
maturity and experience much more than they suggested ageing and when he was
asleep and unaware, his spirit not plagued by the worries and duties of the
waking hours, they were but a memory and he seemed to be caught in a
timeless place, a magical place, that enabled the inner beauty to shine
through.

Mara gave a soft laugh and shook her head. When had she begun to be so prone
to swooning and romanticism? She couldn't have pinpointed it exactly, but
her relationship to Luke had opened a door to a place within her of which
she had been perpetually unaware for the biggest part of her life. The Jedi
Master's constant tendency to obviously and openly compliment her and gush
over her might have had a hand in her willingness to indulge in similar
patterns of thought, too.

In any case, the former Emperor's Hand didn't feel the least bit embarrassed
about the way her feelings could take hold of her at times such as this. On
the contrary - at the very moment, she basked readily in her love for her
husband and for her son. As her hand fell to her belly, the redheaded woman
focused her Force sense into her very being, intent on verifying what she
had thought to have felt days ago, while Luke and she had still been in
transit to Coruscant on the Jade Sabre and lost in a world of their own.

A quiver of excitement sparked through her and she quickly shielded it from
the sleeping form beside her. She would not talk to him until she was sure.

With the grace of a cat, soundless and quick, Mara breathed a kiss on Luke's
left temple and rose from the bed. The Jedi Master did not wake, only turned
to face the window and as his wife cast a glance back at him, studying the
silhouette of perfection, she wished with all her heart that her suspicions
would become truth.

She slipped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her, her movements
fast and secure. She had been prepared for this, even if she had not
suspected it would be so easy to keep it all from her husband. Then again,
she mused as a smirk invaded her features, he usually had a deep sleep,
especially when they had made love.

Mara had made sure to buy the most sophisticated testing kit that was
available and had been amazed at how small it had turned out to be in
comparison to the one that she had used only one year and a half ago. The
advances of modern medicine were amazing indeed.

Ere long the small device was sitting in front of her on the sink, humming
ever so softly as it processed her blood, taken by a painless prick on her
ring finger. Even though the times were long gone in which the analysis had
taken a full standard minute to turn up a result with ninety percent
probability for correctness, the few seconds that were needed nowadays
seemed quite as long, if not longer.

Appalled, Mara found her fingers thrumming impatient rhythms on the edge of
the sink and she knew she was probably glaring at the innocent thing as if
it was Palpatine itself, but her anxiousness would not let her calm down.
She had experienced much pain in her life and the one that gripped you when
you were wishing so fervently for something to happen that the very desire
was ripping you apart did belong to the worst of them all.

How long could thirty seconds actually be?

"Mara?"

The sleepy voice sounded from awfully close behind her and it was all she
could do to not give a small shout as she veered around.

Luke was standing in the door, half leant against its frame, and blinked at
her in mild bewilderment. He had donned his sleeping pants - she hadn't even
heard him rise! - and looked decidedly worthy to be devoured there and then.

On most days - in most nights - she would have done just that, but her mind
was blank and she wondered whether she looked as dazed and guilty as she
felt. There would be a reprimand, of course, a pout on those full lips of
her husband's when he realized she had not let him hover beside her, partner
in her anxiousness, while they waited for the result, and Mara wondered what
kind of excuse she could come up with, one that a man would be capable to
understand.

She was almost to the point to crumple and confess when Luke scratched the
back of his head and shuffled through the bathroom, passing her and
squeezing into the cabin at the back of the room that separated their
bathtub and shower from the toilet.

Blinking, Mara realized he must think that was where she had been and why
she had left the bed. She relaxed. With a little bit of luck, he would
shuffle back the way he had come and be asleep before his head touched the
pillow.

It was in this moment that thirty seconds had passed. A subdued beep sounded
through the bathroom, as loud as a speeder engine in the stillness of the
night, and Mara swore under her breath.

She felt Luke's presence come awake with a start and shed the fog of slumber
that had held him captive so far. Before she could have turned around to
somehow hide the incriminating evidence of her secrecy, a tousled blonde
head peeked out of the fresher and puzzled cobalt eyes looked around. "What
was that?"

A thousand retorts sped through Mara's mind, every one crazier and more
stupid than the one before it. In the end, she resorted to glowering at her
husband. "Of all the times you could have picked to go to the fresher, you
must go now, don't you?"

"Hu?" Luke blinked at her as he stepped back into the bathroom.

"It was supposed to be a surprise, farmboy. And you spoiled it."

"What are you.?"

"Your result is ready. Please verify with a gynaecologist of your choice to
receive competent advice and care."

Mara's head shot around as she glared at the offending grille of the kit's
inbuilt loudspeaker. How could she have overlooked that? Blast it - to hell
with modern technology. Who needed a pregnancy test that was actually
talking to you? Didn't they know ninety-nine percent of women always did
them in secrecy?

"I bet a man invented that." She growled darkly.

Luke's eyes had gone as round as saucers and his wife prepared herself for a
lecture of how she shouldn't keep such things from him. For the second time
this night, the Jedi Master surprised her, though.

"Won't you look what it says?" Only the slightest quiver betrayed his
nervousness as he stood still and rooted to the spot, his intense eyes fixed
on her. Their depths swirled with a mix of emotions she could all too well
relate to. There was joy and desire and a longing so fervent it was eclipsed
only by the fear shimmering underneath. They would both be crushed, Mara
realized, if the test were to be negative.

It seemed impossible to insist on looking first at it, on looking alone at
it, in face of the intensity of the feelings of the man before her. And
contrary to what she might have expected to feel, having Luke leave her
alone now was the last thing Mara wanted.

There was a long moment in which their eyes met, a moment that held
potential for a dispute, for a discussion as to whether Mara had been right
- had had the right - to keep this from hhim, even if only for a short time,
but the question was dismissed as quickly as it had flared up and the slight
woman extended a hand to her husband.

Luke's smile was as shiny as the sun and he grasped her hand firmly as he
stepped next to her.

"What do you think?" His voice was but a whisper and just like herself, he
didn't yet glance at the testing kit that sat patiently waiting and
thankfully silent.

Mara knew that the answer to this question would be more important to him
than any result medical technology could possibly turn out. There were
things that the Force could tell you and no other source could refute. It
was what he believed and it was what she herself had come to believe, too.

Her voice was rough as she replied. "I think I felt. something."

Luke breathed in deeply and simultaneously, without another word, they
ripped apart their gazes and looked down at the small display. The letters
were bright yellow and too small for an announcement of this significance,
or so it felt to both of them, and yet they seemed to jump out of their
confines and spring into their faces.

Mara hadn't left but a second to register what her eyes were seeing before
Luke swept her up in his arms and twirled her around, silently but with no
less of enthusiasm and bubbling emotions as if he had shouted his happiness
out loud. It rolled over her in waves of sheer joy and she willingly
succumbed to it and clung to him as he carried her back to bed.

There was an abundance of emotions, an abundance of love and affection,
gratefulness and passion that found only one way of expression at a time
where a little infant slept two rooms farther down the corridor.

*~~

The sun was radiant this morning and the air was filled with freshness as
Luke Skywalker and Han Solo made their way through the upper corridors of
the Imperial Palace. They had met early on to undertake a trip to the
single, artificial lake that adorned the centre of galactic politics. It was
there that the retired Admiral Ackbar had a small home that he occupied
whenever he was on planet.

He mostly lived on his own homeworld, the water world of Mon Calamari, now
that he did not have any official duties left in the New Republic Fleet, but
every now and then he would spend several weeks among the hustle and bustle
of Coruscant City to meet with old friends and to devote time to several of
programs he had invented to aid young pilots from underprivileged worlds and
species.

It would take two hours at the least to reach him and there had been a
short, but fiery discussion as to who was supposed to go in the first place.
Leia could not make herself free, so it had been clear from the beginning
that Han would go. Unbeknownst to the former smuggler and the princess, the
private discussion held at the breakfast table of the Skywalker household
had been much less obvious.

In the end - to his own surprise - Luke had actually managed to convince
Mara to stay back, to go and see Cilghal and make sure that everything was
in order.

As an end result, he felt energetic and perfectly happy, despite the serious
nature of their visit to the former Admiral. His good mood must have been
obvious, as Han was grinning at him broadly by the time they settled into
the Solo's speeder and checked on their course a last time. Both the Jedi
and the ex-smuggler knew their way around Coruscant, having lived for over a
decade on the world of skyscrapers and sky domes, but even they could not
tell where there would be a traffic jam.

"Had a good night, kid?"

Luke wished he could have simply wiped the grin from his face, but he didn't
manage. The revelation of the last night buzzed within him like a swarm of
bees and he had the suspicion he wouldn't get rid of the grin for quite a
while to come.

"I had."

Han smirked and watched his brother-in-law out of the corner of his eyes as
he filed into the nearest lane of speeders and adjusted his speed. It was
unusual for him to adhere to traffic rules, but he was curious on finding
out just what exactly Luke was so happy about and it was easier to grill him
if he didn't have to concentrate on his flying all too much.

"Just spill it, won't you?"

The Jedi Master's grin widened - even though Han would have thought that
particular stunt impossible - and although he would have loved to let Han
guess, the truth had bubbled out before he had consciously registered it.

"You like being an uncle?"

The Corellian frowned, "'Course I do. Your crawler is the cutest little guy.
He reminds me a lot of Anakin."

The former farmboy from Tatooine beamed at the words and his eyes twinkled
as he fixed them on Han, "Do you think you'll be able to handle twice that
amount of Skywalker genes?"

There was a moment of silence in which Han's brain processed what he had
heard before he punched Luke's shoulder good-naturedly. "Another one?
Another boy?"

Luke felt the universe brighten even more at the joy he heard in his
brother-in-law's voice and didn't care whether he looked as dreamy as a
teenager. "A girl."

Han's eyebrows shot up, but a knowing smile substituted this gesture a mere
second later. "I see," He said softly. The Corellian remembered all too
vividly the way it had felt when he had first held Jaina in his arms, so
tiny, so beautiful. He loved both his sons dearly, but his daughter held a
special place. She always would, with him as well as with Luke.

The Jedi had always gushed over his niece, as much as the girl had always
gushed over her uncle, and Luke had every bit as weak a spot for her as her
father had.

"It's going to be a girl, you know." Luke repeated, a flicker of doubt in
his azure eyes as he mustered Han suspiciously.

His friend smiled, "I wish it for you, kid."

Luke seemed momentarily flustered and hurried to add, "Not that I wouldn't
love another son, it's just. I've always wanted."

"Believe me, I understand, Luke. I understand completely. It was like that
for me, too, with Jaina."

The younger man settled back in his seat and his gaze wandered off into
eternity as he pondered the Corellian's walls, "It was?"

Han nodded, "Absolutely. I would have adored another son, but Jaina. a
daughter is something special. I can't explain it. Maybe because she has so
much of her mother, you know?"

"She really is a lot like Leia," Luke mused aloud.

The former smuggler chuckled, "Your sister will have a fit! She worships
Ben. A niece on top of that will send her to seventh haven."

Luke smiled wistfully. He looked forward to tell his sister and let her
reaction nourish his fatherly pride. It was not something Luke Skywalker
normally indulged in, but if it came to his child - his children - he
allowed himself the pride, the doting, the worshipping, determined to pour
all his love over the small beings.

"Ackbar will love the news, too. He is crazy about human kids. Remember how
he wouldn't let Anakin out of his sight at all at his name-giving?"

"Yeah," Luke chuckled, "He was just as fascinated by Ben. Mon Calamari
children must be so very different."

Han shrugged, "I have no idea. You can ask him, of course. A much nicer
topic than asking him to exploit his acquaintances and do us a favour."

And with that, the seriousness of the situation came back. It weighed not
all too much on their spirits, but it did dampen the exuberance a bit. At
the same time, it strengthened their determination. Luke would do everything
to ensure the safety of his family, of his unborn daughter. And he knew Han
would do the same for his niece-to-be.

They continued in silence, both content in their personal joy.

*~~

Ackbar's living room was elegantly furnished, with flowing forms and soft
colours, as it was custom among his species. The Mon Cal were peaceful,
sophisticated and art-loving creatures, a trait they expressed even when
they were building the impressive warships that had carried the Alliance to
many victories and ensured the peace in the New Republic more often than
anyone could count.

The moisture was not really comfortable, but Luke and Han had both spent
more than enough time with the amphibian Admiral to have become used to it a
long while ago.

The former Admiral inclined his bulbous head with dignity and his deep voice
rumbled with an undertone of pleasure as he gestured for his guests to sit.
"It is good to see you again, Luke. And Han! We should do this more often."

"It is good to see you, too, Admiral. And I agree, we should really make a
point of getting together whenever you're on Coruscant." Luke smiled as he
sank onto the sofa.

Han clasped his hand into the cool, moist fin of the alien and joined his
brother-in-law on the piece of furniture, "I'm sorry that we don't come with
only a friendly visit in mind."

Ackbar waved the apology away, "I have been following the news and the
accusations against Senator Omas are ridiculous. I do believe in his
innocence. And Leia called me yesterday. She told me about the threat she
received and of course I heard about the attempt on the lives of you and
your wife, Luke." He spread his massive arms wide. "If I can help, I will.
Tell me what I can do."

*~~

Leaves were falling, emptying the woods of his native world bit by bit,
until the winter would bury them under masses of snow for the time being. It
was a steady procedure, as bit by bit the old was vanquished and the place
was readied for the new.

He smiled and imagined the trees as his adversaries and the leaves as the
losses they would have to bear - losses akin to the ones that had befallen
him, on their instigation, repeatedly in his bungled life.

It was a bittersweet note that even his revenge would not restore him to
what he had once been, but it would bring him satisfaction.

His eyes narrowed and skimmed over yet another report one of his trusted
informants had furnished him. The development was unexpected, but his plans
were flexile and although it was a move he had not expected of them, they
had ultimately only played in his hands.

There were other letters demanding his attentions, letters of pawns and
servants that were unaware of their unimportance and either about to panic
or to become too curious for their own good. They believed he was supporting
them, they believed he was considering them allies and friends, but they
were means to be used and would eventually be discarded.

If the time had come - which it hadn't. There were more steps to be
completed. One was only hours away. And he would relish it, would follow the
news and let the delight ripple through his body when the tragedy was
announced to the population of the galaxy.

*~~

Once they had filled in Admiral Ackbar about everything that had transpired
and specified the kind of help they required of him, they had spent more
hours talking about perfectly normal every-day things, nurturing a
friendship that had developed over many years from a deep-sitting respect
for each other.

Luke remembered well the times at which he had quivered with nervousness and
embarrassment whenever he had had to face the amphibian Admiral. His
tactical abilities, his fairness and his unshakable ideals had instilled
respect in every member of the fleet and the Jedi Master was sure that the
Civil War would have had another ending altogether if Ackbar had not been on
the Rebel Alliance's side, if he had not been freed of his slavery to Grand
Moff Tarkin.

The respect the alien had paid him in return and the trust he had had in him
had seemed amazing and unexpected to the youth Luke had been in these times.
He had appreciated it and in the years they had fought for the destruction
of the Empire and the creation of the New Republic they had developed a
sound friendship. Not overtly close, but loyal.

By the time he and Han were climbing back into the speeder, it was late
afternoon and the sun was burning fiercely, unusually hot for this time of
the year. Han mumbled something about too hot a summer to be expected but
knew his brother-in-law well enough to not wait for Luke to agree. Having
grown up on Tatooine, the Jedi seemed to draw energy from the sun and when
everyone around him was groaning because of the temperatures, Luke would
only intone that Tatooine used to be a lot hotter and that all over the
year.

The sun glinted on the canopies of the vehicles as they filed in behind
another speeder and the traffic was slow-going as the rush hour filled the
sky with too many craft.

"We should have stayed for dinner," Luke murmured. He had leant back into
his seat and closed his eyes, figuring the return trip would be as good an
opportunity as any to catch up with the sleep he had not had the previous
night.

Thus he didn't actually see the scathing look the Corellian sent him,
although he knew it to be there all the same.

"You're so funny, kid. Don't think I can't throw you out the side door just
because you're going to become Daddy again."

Luke laughed, remembering all too well the culinary disaster they had been
faced with the last time the Admiral had invited them to an evening with
delicacies from his planet. It was seldom that the tastes of humans and an
amphibian species complemented each other.

"It would have humoured Ackbar. He'll have a lot to do checking out all we
asked him to."

Han snorted audibly, "It wouldn't have humoured him; it would have amused
him. He was having the time of his life when I had to eat all those sea
slugs at his fifty year jubilee."

"We ALL had to eat them, Han." Luke reminded him.

"But he was sitting opposite ME. I couldn't bribe the closest Mon Cal to
surreptitiously eat my slugs, too, like a certain Jedi Master of my
acquaintance did."

Luke just kept chuckling in his seat for a while longer. After a while,
though, as the traffic thickened some more and the sun kept heating up the
canopy, he eventually felt himself doze off slightly.

He had no idea how long he had been in this light slumber when a sense of
unease wormed itself into his awareness. He sat straight up and took a look
around to orient himself. The spires of the Imperial Palace were already in
sight, but it would still take them at least another hour to reach them,
provided Han would keep following the rules and regular space lanes. He
couldn't have slept more than fifteen minutes or something.

Han turned his head from his perusal of the aft of the speeder before them
and cocked an eyebrow, "Bad feeling?"

Luke frowned, "What's up?"

The Corellian turned his head back to look at the speeder before them, but
his attention clearly was focused in the opposite direction, "We're being
followed - for a couple of minutes already."

"Are you sure?"

"Luke, please."

The Jedi grimaced, "Sorry." He settled back into his seat, intent on giving
their pursuers the impression that neither of them had noticed anything was
amiss. "What do we do? Call them out or not?"

"We could call security. Of course they would get away then. They'll be
monitoring our com transmissions.."

"And that would not help us any. If we get them, on the other hand, we might
learn who sent them and be a step closer to finding out who's behind all
this."

"You're speaking my mind, kid." Han was grinning at him and Luke found he
could not keep a smile from lingering on his face.

"Then let's call them out."

Han didn't need another incentive and immediately broke out of the traffic
lane. He descended - illegally - three lanes, broke starboard and headed out
over the industrial district where the air would be open and permit them to
go to top speed. And the state of the art airspeeder that Han had bought for
the Solos a year ago could manage quite an impressive velocity indeed.

Their followers seemed to be aware of that, too. They hit the throttle
immediately and gave up any pretence not to be on the heels of the Jedi and
the former smuggler.

"Security Headquarters?" Luke's question was casual as he unclipped his
lightsaber from his belt. The canopy of their vessel was supposed to be safe
enough, but he wasn't going to take any chances.

Han nodded, "I doubt they realize where we lead them. And Security always
has at least five units up in the air."

As they had expected, their assailants started firing as soon as they had
left the crowded civilian airways behind. Their aim was quite accurate, but
between Han's expert flying and the advanced plating of their speeder there
was no reason to worry quite yet.

They were nearing the spires of a particularly large factory as their
adversaries changed tactics. They abandoned the engines that they had tried
to hit and concentrated fire on the canopy.

Han swore under his breath as Luke unbuckled and turned until he knelt on
his seat, facing the hostile speeder that was astonishingly close behind
them. The Corellian was glaring defiantly as he piloted their craft in wild
manoeuvres. "We're still going to make it."

Luke was sure they would and all the more puzzled that he still didn't feel
reassured. "They can't be that bad." He murmured.

"It's just like on Ord Mantell." Han supplied through gritted teeth as the
vessel bucked violently beneath them. "Hold on tight, kid, I'm going to bank
starboard."

It was a risky turn, but it would cut short their way considerably. They
were not yet in big trouble, but if they had to put up with the constant
barrage of laser fire for much longer, the canopy would burst. THAT would
mark the beginning of trouble.

The spire of the factory was massive and blackened by decades of use and
loomed before them like an ancient beast, threatening them with all the
protrusions that stuck out from his side and could put an end to the mad
chase that was presently taking place, fulfilling the job the pursuers had
come to do.

Han pressed his lips together and concentrated hard, aware of how
meticulously he had to time this to surprise the enemy. They shot around the
monumental building, angling down, so close to its walls that he could see
the pipes for energy and water. The scanner showed their pursuers shooting
over them, helplessly firing a few ill-aimed shots.

The Corellian whooped in delight, but felt his voice leave him as he looked
up from the scanners. Panic and fear mingled with astonishment as he
realized that they HAD known where Luke and Han were leading them, that they
HAD guessed their every move.

He yanked the stick to port, but it was too late. He would have had to react
even before the new obstacle in their path had become visible to avoid the
catastrophe.

There was nothing he could do. They would hit the bulk transport square into
its stern.

*~~

Luke had felt Han's sudden terror and reacted instinctively. The Force was
abundant all around him and he clasped it tightly, weaving a narrow net
around their vehicle.

A push and they dived under the bulk transport. Metal screeched as the
speeder skimmed along the underside of the much larger obstacle and Luke had
to divert a bit of the Force to keep himself steady.

He had to see where they were going if he wanted to ensure their survival.

Luckily the industrial district of Coruscant City was rich of derelict,
abandoned hangars. It would have been especially bad luck if there had none
of them been close.

It needed another nudge and an immense amount of Force energy to give them
the right trajectory and by the time they were sliding uncontrolled along
the floor of an abandoned storage hall, Luke's knees were wobbly from the
exertion. He tried not to think of the fact that he had stood upright on a
speeder nose-diving into the depths of Coruscant City and used the last
shreds of control to slow them as much as possible.

The power of the jerks along the way was nonetheless immense and Luke
finally tripped, falling backwards. As if in slow motion he saw Han be
catapulted in the opposite direction and realized the speeder was still
going too fast. The Corellian would be sent flying over the canopy and be
killed smashing against the wall. Without a conscious thought, Luke erected
a Force wall before the permabeton they were speeding towards and had the
satisfaction to see the vessel come to a bumpy, but relatively harmless
halt. Han lost momentum and crashed down against the dashboard with a
sickening thud. The spike of worry that erupted within Luke was cut short as
he hit the floor and rolled like a puppet, unable to control his body.

He eventually slammed into something, bumping his head soundly, and lay
dazed.

*~~

Han's ears were ringing madly and he felt blood trickle down his back. The
world was spinning around him, but he didn't feel as if anything was broken.

Pure willpower let him crawl out of the speeder and forward. He came to a
shaky stand and looked in awe at the wreck that had been his craft only a
couple of minutes ago. The nose was smashed backwards - it seemed an absurd
picture as there were at least two dozen meters left between the vehicle and
the actual wall.

Amazement changed to horror as his jumbled thoughts brought memories back to
him, sketchy memories of a lean figure stumbling backwards and connecting
with the floor and he whirled around, ignoring the stars that danced before
his eyes.

Relief flooded him as he saw Luke pick himself up in front of a pillar quite
a distance away. The Jedi waved over to him with what seemed a poorly
coordinated gesture and Han could very vividly imagine the fog that was
clouding the other's thoughts as his own seemed very misty, too.

He had to stop his advance and sought in vain for something to lean on as
his knees buckled and he sank to the floor. The Corellian thought to hear
his brother-in-law call his name, but he couldn't have been sure. His ears
didn't seem to function as they were supposed to and he had every reason to
doubt his eyes, too, as the world around him faded to grey and eventually to
black.

He never saw the thin figure that came up behind his brother-in-law as
oblivion gripped him.

*~~

"Damn you, Jedi! You should be dead. You should both be dead!"

Rage cursed through him, pure fury, as he had to accept yet another failure.
Just like on Ord Radama, it had once again been Skywalker to spoil his
plans, to discredit him in the eyes of his master.

It had been such an artfully concealed trap, should have meant certain,
fiery death for both of them, Solo and the Jedi alike, and yet they had
still managed to thwart fate and survive!

How he wished to be allowed to kill them now, one after the other - now that
they were helpless and wounded. It would have been so easy! But his orders
were more than clear. He had a contingency plan to follow - he would
naturally be punished for the fact that this contingency plan had to be
followed in the first place, but that didn't mean he could ignore it.

There were reasons, too. He had made sure that there were no traces to be
followed that could possibly link his master or himself to the accident with
the speeder. Would he cut their throats, would he kill them now, the
investigation would necessarily lead to him and from him to his master. No
matter whether they had heeded every security advice they had been able to
come up with. There were always traces to be followed and no risk was to be
needlessly taken.

"Curse you!" He spat again as he gripped the Jedi from behind and brought
the damp cloth in his left to the smaller human's mouth and nose. Under
normal circumstances it would have been insane for him to challenge a Jedi,
but Skywalker was weakened. His movements had been slow and insecure - he
had most certainly suffered a concussion.

The cloth had been dumped into a strong narcotic, strong enough to take
advantage of the disorientation induced by such a crash and overcome the
victim before the Jedi could get a hold of this famous Force of his and
dispel the drug's effects.

There was a struggle, determined and stubborn, though eventually useless.
Within a second, he could see pupils dilate and eyes go sightless as
Skywalker succumbed to the fumes and slackened in his hold.

He lowered the lean figure onto the floor and stood straight, breathing
deeply to relieve himself of his lust for murder.

Sirens blared in the distance. It would take some more minutes for them to
find this abandoned location. Enough time to receive new orders and fulfil
them.

He contacted his master and relayed the situation, also per his orders,
suggesting with all due humility that the opportunity was too good to be
ignored. His advice fell on deaf ears and he was told to rely on the
contingency plan after all, with some slight refinements to adapt it to the
present.