Coming Out pt II

   ~@~Out of Darkness

   Karrde's arrival, or specifically the nature of his arrival, which was far more official than usual, had built up everyone's curiosity. It was an added oddity that Karrde was, in fact, already here. He, Mara, and a handful of their top associates had arrived on Coruscant a few days ago, and since then their presence here had been kept in very low profile. The Wild Karrde, however, had just come in from hyperspace a few minutes ago.

   "There it is." Karrde pointed out a small, nondescript freighter which had slipped into traffic a discrete distance behind the Wild Karrde.  Daylight was gradually fading from the sky as a late summer evening faded toward night, but the two ships were easily visible against Coruscant's skyline. "This ship has been following us for some time now," Karrde explained as they watched both ships' progress from an NRI observation deck which was adjacent to Coruscant's Central Traffic Control.

   "Ah," Karrde murmured, "there it goes."  His comm had just beeped. "And–" Karrde measured out the word as his comm continued steadily beeping. "Done," he stated when the beeping had stopped. 

   "Pretty efficiently too," Mara Jade observed.

   Han, Luke, and Atamvr looked on, waiting for things to make a little more sense.

   It was Ghent who spoke up after another minute had passed uneventfully.  "You want me to go ahead and reboot the rest our systems now?" 

   "No, it can wait," Karrde answered his slicer cautiously.  "It may be a good idea to keep up the illusion a while longer. You're sure of what he got in the dump?" Karrde questioned next.

   "Only the files I decreased security on. There's no way to even suspect that the rest exist."

   "Good," Karrde nodded; he had known that would be Ghent's answer.  "Good work, Ghent," he added as Ghent wandered off, no doubt already in search of something more interesting to keep him occupied. 

   Karrde glanced next toward Han, Luke, and Atamvr.  "I know it's hardly fitting to make oneself so accessible, but one must make concessions, occasionally," Karrde amended.

   The others only grinned.

   "Laus is counting on the fact that anything I may be sharing with the New Republic would have to be stored in the Karrde's main data systems.  All he'll be getting today is a good deal of general information that will be of no real use to him."

   "And the advance notice?" Luke questioned with a smile. 

   Karrde shrugged. "Just in case our tracker couldn't figure it out, I thought that giving Laus a few days of knowing that we'd be coming here would be just the thing to goad him into action."

   "It worked," Han assessed bluntly. "He could hardly wait to find out what you were sharing with us."

   "Now what?" Atamvr asked uneasily.

   "If my theory is correct," Karrde answered, "I've done exactly what Laus wanted me to do." He returned his attention to the observation window, his arms crossed over his chest. "Now we find out why."

~

   Leia glanced across the room toward the observation area where her brother and husband stood conferring with Karrde and Mara Jade.  Luke had glanced discretely in her direction; the feel of his focused mind drew her attention away from the readouts she had been studying.

   Anything unusual? Luke asked.  Leia could feel his unease.

   No, she answered.  The ship is a light freighter, no cargo, no heavy armaments. Its ID doesn't register in our data banks.

   Probably a fake. That's to be expected. Life signs? 

   It shows a normal complement for a vessel that size: pilot, copilot, about ten crewers.

   Luke hesitated.  Widen your search. See if you find any more ships matching this one's description.

   You suspect something more than this dump?

   There is more, he answered. I feel it.

   Leia sighed. The feel of nervous expectation in his emotions made perfect sense to her. She had been feeling the same way since Karrde's arrival.  Her senses were persistently reminding her that things were more than they seemed.

   I'll keep my eyes open, she replied.

~

   "Then there's been no other unusual activity tonight?" Ghent heard Leia Organa Solo questioning one of the Intelligence duty officers nearby as Ghent made his way toward them. 

   "No, Madam Senator," the officer answered easily.  "Other than this operation, everything has been quiet. Palace security reports no disruptions.  Traffic Control assures us that there have been no aberrations in traffic flow, none caused by the ship we're tracking or by any other ships."

   Leia spared a quick glance toward Ghent, and she suppressed a smile at the sight of the young slicer who was trying not to look so obvious as he waited to get her attention.

   "Thank you," Leia said to the officer, and he went back to his station as Leia fixed her attention on Ghent.

   "No offence, but its been kinda dull just waiting around these past few days," Ghent explained.  "Since Karrde won't let me at our systems yet, you think NRI would let me back on theirs? I've got some pretty good updates I could add in for them," he finished.

   Leia grinned.  "Considering the work you did for us last time you were here, I don't think they'd mind having you a bit." The young slicer looked a little puzzled at the mention of work, but he had what he wanted. 

   "Thanks. I've been thinking about how I could adjust a few things to work for a bigger, planetary system," he started, talking to himself as he turned away, heading off in the general direction of New Republic Intelligence, not so much as a thought given to requesting a security code clearance.

   Leia grinned again, and shook her head as she pulled her comm to notify the NRI staff that he was coming.  Then she bent back down over the console she had been studying earlier. Her search had just picked up four more ships matching the one that was following the Wild Karrde.

~

   "Would you look at that?"  There was genuine surprise in Karrde's voice this time. The Wild Karrde had continued on its course toward a landing pad near the NRI observation deck, but the ship trailing them maneuvered just slightly, moving out of its traffic lane and coming closer to the observation deck. "They've tracked the transmission from the Karrde to our position," Karrde finished warily.

   "They're charging up their weapons," one of the Intelligence duty officers reported.

   "That's suicide," Mara murmured under her breath.  "They got the dump, why not just pull out?  They must know they can't do any damage to us here."

   "No, but they can distract us," Luke breathed. He had seen this attack before.  "They can get our defense forces swarming to the wrong places before the real attack begins."  Luke pulled his comm. "This is Skywalker.  Wedge, I need you to scramble some fighters in and around sector 12A. We're going to have company real soon, most likely some of those mystery fighters you guys like so much."  Luke could almost hear Wedge smiling.

   "Good. We haven't seen them in a while."

   "Expect this batch to be interdictor-capable; they'll come of light speed right on top of us."

   "Got it. I'll tell my pilots to expect ICHTS fighters coming in near sector 12A."

   "I'm in position at the NRI observation deck adjacent to Traffic Control.  I'll get you what information I can from here," Luke concluded.

   "No worries. We're on it, Boss," Wedge answered, making Luke smile. Not everyone would get that immediate a response from the new head of Coruscant's Home Defense force. Despite the different paths their lives had taken over the years, the level of trust and friendship between one-time wing mates was something that simply never changed, no matter the passing of years.

   Almost before Luke had cut the comm link, alarms had started triggering around the room.

   "Everyone brace for impact," Mara yelled just before the ship fired on their position. The room rocked when they were hit, enough to throw bodies and equipment to the floor, but the shielding meant to protect the observatory in the event of a traffic disaster held just as firm against enemy fire.

   Almost instantly, a swarm of New Republic Security patrol ships had descend on the offending vessel, surrounding it before it could fire again.

   "We've got incoming ships in sector 12A," Leia reported.

   They all watched as a squad of the interdictor-capable high-tech shielding fighter ships broke into Coruscant orbit and descended through the planet's atmosphere, sending the meticulously ordered traffic patterns into complete disarray. The tight formation of about twenty ships immediately scattered into action while the normal Coruscant traffic dodged wildly to avoid them and one another. The more unfortunate of those vehicles crashed in the air, were sent careening into the massive city scape, or were shot down out of the flight paths of the incoming fighters, which were leaving a wake of destruction in their paths.

   The NRS patrol ships that had surrounded the attacking freighter were quickly out-manned by the mystery fighters.  They retreated as a more capable defense force was called in to take their place. Having been scrambled minutes earlier, the Home Defense force began to arrive soon after the initial shots were fired, and they quickly began to engage the ICHTS fighters.

   "I don't like the look of that," Mara grated without facing Karrde.  She was watching as the freighter that had fired on them and two others like it began to converge upon the Wild Karrde.

   "Neither do I," Karrde echoed her comment worriedly.

   Mara Jade was already heading for the door as Karrde pulled his comm.  But he had barley established contact with the Wild Karrde before communications were cut.  A sickening high-pitched squawk was all that was audible from his comm link.  Karrde restrained a curse at his helpless position. He had just been cut off from his flagship, with some of his best people aboard it and Laus' attack force going in for the kill.

~

   Elsewhere in the Palace, Lara sat up with the twins. Typical two and a half year olds, tonight they had decided against an early bedtime.  By now it was well past a late bedtime for them.  Their mom blamed it on all the recent excitement; they knew that unusual things had been happening over the past few days, and even if they didn't comprehend all the details they did know that their parents and their extended family members were  worried.  Lara sat up to read to them for a while longer, staying careful not to let her attention wander, trying to give her children as much normalcy as she could.

   She had just gotten them tucked into bed when any hope of normalcy evaporated into a chilling sensation. The Force had just moved from around her.  She came to a stop with one hand still held to the twin's door. When she went back inside they were already awake again, knowing that something was not right.

   Lara hugged them, giving reassurances that it would be all right.  And easily but seriously, their mother explained what she needed them to do: to lock their door and not open it, no matter what, until she or Luke or another family member came for them. They nodded, little faces again stunning her with their understanding of things that she didn't know how to explain. They had been told before what to do in an emergency like this one, but it was very different when it was for real... and even though she couldn't feel it she knew that they had to be scared.

   Lara hugged them again, kissed them each, and she told them she loved them.  Then she walked outside and waited there for the door to click locked. That done, she disabled the safety override on the outside, and she started down the hall to the other bedroom, for a blaster.  But she came to a halt only a few steps later. She had already run out of time. She could hear fighting outside in the Palace hallway.

   Her eyes moved to the bedroom door, undecided. She wanted something more of defense to put between herself and the unknown, the danger that she suspected, but she didn't dare to leave her children unguarded, even for a few moments.  Then her attention abruptly focused.  Lara stretched her senses to the fullest as she took up a more defensive posture. The suite's hallway and living area were dark, the only light coming from the kitchenette at the end of the hall. Lara couldn't see anything amiss inside the suite, but she had just heard a different noise, a much closer noise.

   "Do not worry, Lady Skywalker," there came a gravelly mewing voice from just a few steps in front of her.  Lara released a small sigh of relief as she saw the figure emerge from the unseen shadows, followed by two others.  The noise she had heard had been members of their Nogrhi guard cutting their way into the suite from hidden passages in the walls, just as they had planned – as a final line of defense.

   Her nerves tensed again. The threat to the rest of their team outside must be great for them to have taken this action. And knowing the unparalleled skill and cunning, the strength and stealth that the Nogrhi possessed... that thought was not at all comforting.

   "Our warriors will not be easily defeated," the Nogrhi guard assured her, as though realizing her thoughts. 

   Lara took a deep breath. He had probably picked up on her increased tension.  She firmly settled herself; she had to focus her thoughts and energies. Just because the Force was not available to her did not mean that she was at a disadvantage. Lara nodded to the Nogrhi and took a step back, moving closer to the children's room, keeping them to her back.

   The noise outside had changed again. The fighting had ceased. Now there was only the eerie scraping sound of a high-strength lock bypass mechanism. Lara watched the Nogrhi move seamlessly toward the door, and then disappear again into the shadows.  She took a deep breath, and forced herself to feel calm.  All Lara could do now was wait.

~

     The NRI observation area was abuzz with activity as Coruscant's Home Defense forces moved to head off Laus' attack, engaging the ICHTS fighters which, up to this point, had shown no weaknesses of any kind.  Mara had taken the Jade's Fire in after the Wild Karrde.  She had succeeded in breaking up the formation that the three freighters had formed around the Karrde, but only temporarily.  It hadn't taken long for a couple of the mystery fighters to engage her, forcing the Fire away from its defense of the Karrde, and already Mara was in dire need of back up. 

   Talon Karrde swore under his breath, looking around suddenly.  Solo was gone.  Luke and Atamvr were trying to help direct the attack from here. Leia was scanning the traffic patterns worriedly.  Karrde made his way over to her side but Leia paid little attention to his presence.

   "What are you looking for?" he questioned worriedly.

   "I picked up five ships before the attack began. Now I only see the three–" she trailed off after glancing toward Karrde.  There was no need to explain to him that without Mara's interference those three ships were now resuming their attack on the Wild Karrde.  "I'm trying to find the other two," she breathed.

   "Leia, my people have been working up a attack strategy for these mystery ships. They think they've found a weaknesses in the high tech shielding that we can exploit, but I need Ghent's help, and he will need access to a transmission station." 

   "Ghent went over to NRI to work on the systems' encrypt. He can use the transmission stations there."

   "Can you patch me through to him?"

   Leia nodded. "Right away."

   Karrde stood by nervously as Leia contacted NRI. The attack strategy he had spoken to Leia about was far from final; they had been working on it for well over a year.  Ghent insisted that he was very close; with every engagement they had had with the ICHTS fighters, Ghent argued that it was only a matter of time until he found the right combination of frequencies.... Karrde believed him, but time had always been what they lacked.  Then there had been a breakthrough when Ghent had recently broken a difficult encrypt encoding parts of the Tangrene data. Now Ghent was confident that he could make the strategy work in the next round of attacks.  Only Karrde hadn't expected Laus to be crazy enough to attack him here, right under Coruscant's nose....

   Laus had caught Karrde off guard today.  Talon Karrde only hoped that Ghent was right, and that today would be the day they solved the mystery of Laus' high tech shielding fighters.  If the defenses on those fighters continued to remain impenetrable, the damage Laus' forces could do, not only to Karrde but also to the New Republic's capitol, was hard to imagine.... 

   "What ever trick you have up your sleeve, Talon, I sure hope it works," Leia Organa breathed.

   "So do I," Karrde answered.  "This may be my only hope of helping Mara and my crew aboard the Karrde," he breathed.

~

   A few moments earlier Lando Calrissian had been on his way to the NRI observation deck, just as he had been instructed. That was all Lando had been told about this meeting. Karrde had given him a time and location, and an assurance that he had a highly profitable venture to discuss with Lando.  But almost before Lando could press his finger to the doorpad Han Solo had grabbed his arm and redirected Lando back into the corridor. 

   "Lando.  It's good to see you," Han grinned, "been too long," he added, his voice lowering.

   "Uh-oh," Lando responded.  He knew that tone.  "Hey–" he added warily, "I'm just here to talk to Karrde–" Lando protested. 

   "Karrde's a little busy. Feel like co-piloting the Falcon?" Han asked rhetorically as he pushed Lando toward the center of the corridor and then rushed past him.

   "For you?  No way," Lando answered.  But he was already in mid-stride a step behind Han. "Where's Chewie?"

   "Chewie's comparing moves with the Nogrhi tonight."

   "This is some welcome, old buddy," Lando quipped. 

   "Just try'n to make you feel at home," Han returned.

~

   The eerie scraping sound stopped when the door's locking mechanism clicked over, disabled. The door was forced open a moment later, and the first line of troops fell forward harmlessly. The Nogrhi had been ready to take advantage of the brief instant when their enemies had been most vulnerable, and they had struck the instant the door had opened, before their enemies could have time to react.  As a result, that one moment had proved lethal for the invasion force. 

   One of the three Nogrhi scouted a few steps out into the hall, suspecting an ambush, prepared to set it off. But all was quiet in the Palace hall.  A low hissing sound escaped him at the sight of his fallen warriors, and he dropped down beside one of them, watching and waiting.  Everything remained quiet.  It was then that he realized, suddenly, that there were no visible wounds to the Nogrhi warrior lying dead beside him.  But that realization had come too late for him to solve the mystery.  He, too, fell dead.

   The very thing that had killed them was their flawless skill as warriors.  The invasion force they had fought and defeated had been part of a special forces unit.  In addition to the Force-repressing serum that the entire ground force had been given, members of this group were also the carriers of a lethal toxin which was released upon their deaths.  It spread like a plague arising from the newly dead.  And though its life span was only a matter of seconds, the two remaining Nogrhi had already been exposed.

   Lara held her position within the suite, keeping herself between the suite's entrance and the twins' door, unaware that her life had been saved by that fact. What she did know, more certainly with each passing second, was the identity of the threat that awaited her. A focused calm came over her as the silence lengthened, her own determined emotions leaving no room for doubt or hesitation. The waiting and the unknown would not last much longer.  She was ready, and she knew that she would have to find in herself what she needed to protect her life and her children's.

~

   Luke and Atamvr were working furiously, helping to direct offence as Wedge led the Home Defense force into the fray against the mystery fighters.  Luke was calling formations over what ever clear frequency they could patch into. Atamvr was studying the strategy of the opposing fighters, trying to gather enough information on their attack to predict their next moves. Absently, Luke reached a hand to rub at the back of his neck; suddenly the hair there had started on end. Luke ignored the sensation, keeping his eyes and his attention trained on the battle display in front of him.  Then he froze in mid-motion as he felt a familiar prickling sensation at the back of his mind.  Luke reached out to the Force as he recognized its warning.

   "Wedge, I'm gonna have to hand you over to NRI.  They'll take care of you."  Luke spoke the words numbly, hardly hearing them.

   "I got 'ya Boss," Wedge responded. "Take care."

   But Luke's attention was already elsewhere in the Palace, reaching out almost unconsciously, and finding his answer.  "Lara," he breathed. 

   Atamvr was watching Luke, and their eyes met for a second. Both made the connection between what they were feeling in the Force and who had to be behind it. They were heading for the door a second later. 

   "Luke," Leia called, sensing the sudden turmoil in his emotions.

   "Stay here, Leia," Luke called back, as calmly as he could manage. "You can help here," he added. That was true, but it was also true that Luke didn't want her in a combat situation like this one, not yet.

   "It's Darlik," she stated as she quickly closed the rest of the distance to her brother.

   "He's here," Luke acknowledged.

   "Luke. He's not alone.  There were two more ships; I haven't been able to track them since the attack started.

   "I know where they're going," Luke whispered.

   "Go," she instructed him with a serious nod. Leia didn't have to say anything more. She watched her brother and Atamvr leave, and she reached out to the Force.  She could sense Chewie and Winter with Bail and the twins.  Much to her relief, their senses were normal. And she reached out again, expecting to feel her sister-in-law's familiar sense, some caution in her, maybe even an awareness of danger.  The feel of empty space was far more chilling.

~

   Lara was not surprised when she heard the heavy footsteps, or saw Darlik step around the corner to face her.  He was an intimidating figure in flowing black attire, and he held a solid advantage over her in weight as well as in height. But that was not a circumstance Lara was unaccustomed to, and she stood her ground as the man came steadily closer, his dark eyes boring into hers.  She recognized the single-minded purpose in his stride, and that stride only slowed when he reached striking distance.

   Darlik moved into action quickly, and Lara blocked several of his punches before she caught him with a knee in the ribs.  Next she connected a hard forearm with his jaw; that was enough to force him to take a couple of steps back from her.  Darlik smiled and slowly nodded, acknowledging that she had won the first engagement, but that he did not expect that trend to continue.

   He came at her again, but this time Lara fully expected the aggressive action from him.  Her heel connected hard with the opposite side of his jaw, and when he faced her again the amusement was gone from his features. Possibly Darlik had just realized that without the Force her hand-to-hand combat skills outmatched his own; he hadn't managed to strike a single blow, where he had expected to easily overpower her.

   When he pulled back from their engagement, Lara watched him warily.  There was something ominous in his manner, and she suddenly found herself suspecting that his intentions were about to become far more serious than this physical duel. Darlik took another half step back, an answering smirk on his face as he drew into his cloak. And he produced a lightsaber.

   Lara felt herself instinctively ease back as he ignited the dangerous blade. She had not expected a fair fight from him, but she hadn't expected to find herself at such an awful disadvantage. A cold feeling of calm came over her as she prepared to hold her ground once more... this time knowing that she might have to give her own life for her children's.

~

   Han and Lando took the Falcon into the fray and made a near textbook exercise of hit and run at the mystery fighters, running interference, trying to take some of the pressure off the rest of the Home Defense force and off of the Wild Karrde.  Their fire power was unable to make a dent in Laus' shielded ships, but they were managing to slow down the attack, while keeping themselves from being blasted out of the sky.  It was a lot like facing down a star destroyer in the old smuggling days... except there was a lot more at stake here than a load of illegal cargo.

   "Wait a minute," Han heard Lando's voice come over his headset.

   "What?"

   "The Jade's Fire," he answered.  "Take a look at how Mara's firing on that fighter."

   Han looked.  Mara was concentrating all her fire on one area of the ship's hull, probably where the power relay for the shielding system was housed.

~

   Talon Karrde hunched over a comm console in the NRI observation deck, Leia standing behind him.  "Ghent, can you get our frequencies through the jamming?" he asked tightly, urgently.  They watched his image as Ghent worked busily from a transmission console in NRI headquarters. 

   "I think I can.  But I don't know how long I can hold it."

   "Do it," Karrde instructed, no hesitation. "The Karrde and the Jade's Fire are just moving targets otherwise."

~

   Mara's attack continued, and she saw Solo catch on as the Falcon followed suit, targeting a couple of nearby fighters, focusing his fire on their forward hulls. 

   "Com'on," she mumbled under her breath as she kept it up.  "This has got to work."

   For a few minutes, there was nothing.  Then a sudden flash of light was emitted from the shields, and the ship Mara had been firing on exploded. Mara wasted no time celebrating; she quickly redirected her attack to another nearby fighter, but the magic seemed to have already worn off.

~

   "Hang on.  I can get it back," Ghent assured them as the answering cheer died down.  Three of Laus' ships had just exploded under fire from the Jade's Fire and the Millennium Falcon, and all of NRI headquarters was celebrating that unexpected victory.

   "No," Karrde stopped him cautiously. "We've proven it can be done, and that's enough to make them nervous.  Let Leia and NRI direct the rest of this attack.  I'd rather you concentrate on getting the Karrde out of there." The formation of the three freighters surrounding the Karrde had tightened their formation around Karrde's flagship in the few moments since the explosions, and the Karrde had just stopped returning fire.

   "Can you get through to the Karrde's automatic systems?"

   "I don't get it," Ghent mumbled after a few moments. "It should be responding to my codes."

   "There's too much interference coming from those surrounding freighters," Karrde answered darkly, and he fell silent, watching.  Karrde knew that his crew would never have surrendered, and the edges of a magnetic field could be seen, slowly becoming visible between the three freighters. 

   "It seems that dump wasn't the only thing Laus wanted," Talon Karrde breathed numbly. 

   They had set up a magnetic charge field with the Karrde at its center, and apparently the Karrde's weapons systems had already been shorted out.  Karrde suspected that Chin had diverted all power to the shields when the weapons had started to go.... That would buy them a little more time, but if the field remained in tact the rest of the ship's systems wouldn't last much longer... and when the shields went....

   "They're trying to fry the Karrde's systems, and everyone aboard.  Laus wants me dead."   

~

   Han returned to the cockpit as Lando reluctantly pulled them clear of the convergence on the Wild Karrde.   

   "A magnetic charge field," Han murmured distastefully.

   "Sorry, old buddy. I'm afraid there's no way to break up that party without getting ourselves fried," Lando stated regretfully.  "And though some would say this ship's systems wouldn't know the difference, mine and yours would," he finished grimly.

   Han let the rib go unanswered. He was watching the Jade's Fire.

~

   Mara gritted her teeth and clicked the Fire's shielding up to full. She wasn't about to sit still and watch Laus' ships fry the Karrde.  She reached out to the Force and pushed the Fire's accelerator all the way down. 

   A little static never hurt anyone.

~

   Heeding Leia's warning, Luke and Atamvr had called on a Nogrhi squad to accompany them back to Luke's suite.  They had been a great help to Luke and Atamvr as the group fought their way through several squadrons of capable soldiers which had been positioned at intervals between the NRI observation deck and the residential section of the Imperial Palace, meant to slow them down. 

   Caution and urgency were blatantly at odds as Luke and Atamvr worked their way toward Lara and the twins. Obviously their reactions had been anticipated.  Once they made it into the residential section of the Palace they found that the turbo lifts had been disabled, further slowing them down and also limiting the routes available to them. Then each couple of floors there were more soldiers to deal with. 

   They were only small units, manageable, but already they had encountered greater numbers than expected.  That worried Luke.  These soldiers were capable fighters but far from invincible; the Nogrhi could have dispatched an attack force of this sort with ease, but for some reason they hadn't.

   "At least blinded to the Force, he can't sense us coming," Atamvr noted as they dispatched another unit of soldiers and raced down the hall to reach the stairway that would take them one more floor closer to Lara and the twins. "We've got that advantage, at least," Atamvr finished.

   Luke stayed silent.  The hair at the back of his neck was picking up again where his danger sense would normally kick in, in warning.  If Darlik had somehow gotten past the Nogrhi....  Luke knew that Darlik wouldn't make this a fair fight.  And Lara... Luke knew that he had to get to Lara.

~

   Darlik was no longer rushed. His offense still showed the same single-minded determination that he had displayed before, but this time his motions were not reckless. He knew from their earlier exchange that even at a disadvantage his opponent was dangerous, and she would not be intimidated.

   Lara eased back again, giving ground as he pressed her.  Darlik was enjoying the intimidation, confident in his advantage, and he had yet to made a serious attack. Still, she gave realistic caution to the danger, to her idealistic defense. Everything else she pushed from her mind. 

   They maneuvered, measuring each other again. Lara kept her eyes fastened on the energy blade Darlik held before him, watching his movements, hoping to detect a warning before he struck. She was willing to die for her children if it came to that, but she knew that it wasn't so simple as a sacrifice of her life for theirs... she had to do everything she could to protect them. If that included laying down her life so be it, but Lara had no wish to die; she had to fight for her life too, and no matter how this night ended she wouldn't let go until she knew that her children's lives were safe.  That meant she had to buy Luke more time.

   Lara took another sidestep as Darlik shifted the position of his blade.  "Darlik," she spoke strongly, "I know what happened in Tritis," she said, only partly bluffing. Between what Luke had told her about Darlik's origins and her own research into Tritis, Lara knew that something had happened there.  Now, even without the Force, she could see his emotions react.

   "The past doesn't matter," Darlik bit out coldly.

   "And the present?" she challenged him. "Does it matter that Laus has ties to Tritis, that he does most of his research there?" Lara questioned, catching him off guard with the sudden change in subject.

   She could see him hesitate; Darlik hadn't known that, and he didn't like it. But why?

   "Don't you–" Lara started, intending to press him for more information, but she paused when she saw the sudden change in Darlik's posture: a slight tense of muscles and a shift in balance that caused her to ready her own defenses for a possible strike.

   "You're stalling," he spat.

   Lara narrowly avoided the hacking cut that came at her shoulder, meant to decapitate her, and she caught Darlik with a shin to his rib cage while he was still overextended from that blow.  Mindful of her surroundings, and aware of the fact that if they maneuvered any further down the hall Darlik could too easily trap her in a corner and use his blade to cut his way into the twins' room, Lara moved quickly to shove him back toward the suite's entrance.

   Darlik stumbled, going down to a knee as Lara pushed him, and he reached back with his blade to swipe at her feet while her hands were immobilized against his shoulder and back.

   Lara reacted instinctively, jumping away from the blade, but the motion was awkward; her momentum was caught up in pushing Darlik away from her. She got her right foot out of the way of his strike, but a sharp, biting pain sliced through the back of her left leg between the ankle and calf. Lara was able to lessen the impact of the blow by swinging her arm into Darlik's outstretched wrist, and that movement deflected the hit enough to save her from a crushing blow, but the damage had already been done.

   The energy blade had sliced deeply enough to cut that leg from her control, to cut her major form of defense. Those wicked kicks that Lara utilized with such strength and accuracy had been taken from her arsenal in one sweep of the lightsaber blade.

   Between the pain of the hit and landing off-balance, Lara couldn't manage to keep herself upright. Utilizing the remainder of her own momentum as she fell, she called on the only weapon she had left and tried to level the playing field by taking Darlik's legs from under him. Lara used all the strength in her good leg to connect with a blow that knocked Darlik to the ground, hoping to immobilize him for long enough to disarm him, but luck wasn't with her.  Darlik threw his momentum forward and fell hard, to trap her.  The back of Lara's head connected with the floor, jarring her long enough for Darlik to take advantage. He dropped his knee across her good thigh, and lunged to take hold of her left arm.  His lightsaber blade cut her only remaining means of defense, held inches away from her, crossing her neck and blocking her right shoulder.

   By the time she was able to struggle Darlik already had her immobilized. Lara held his gaze, waiting what seemed like an eternity for Darlik's next move. She heard only her own breathing and the hum of the blade as she watched the red glow that it cast against the coldness in his face.

   "Nothing to say before you die?" Darlik finally challenged.  "Before you watch your children die?" he goaded her to respond now that he held the advantage.

   Lara's reply came slowly, her voice deathly serious. "You'll have to kill me, to get to them," she promised.

   "I suspected as much." Another smirk crossed his face.  "I suppose Laus will be disappointed in me, but it seems he was right. We have very different goals after all."

   Lara felt her heart skip a beat when she heard a noise behind Darlik, but she didn't dare take her eyes from his.  And she distracted him from it with a feigned movement, risking herself to prevent Darlik from turning his lightsaber on Luke. 

   She felt the energy blade come dangerously near to her throat as Darlik reasserted himself, forcing her flush to the floor.  Only a split second away....  And she felt everything come to light as that split second passed, with her eyes locked on his, as he held her down.  There it was. All his need for power and revenge, his determination to defeat Luke – even if it meant having to first break him of his will to live.

   Only a split second passed before Luke grabbed hold of Darlik. Securing his wrist with one hand and grabbing a handful of clothing with the other, Luke ducked down and used his own momentum to pull Darlik off of Lara while keeping both of them clear of the lightsaber blade. Luke swung around, and Darlik was thrown across the room. The Jedi Knight stood ready to face his enemy, brought his own lightsaber to the defense of his family.

   Darlik stood still for a moment, undecided, his lightsaber ignited but lowered at his side.  Finally he had what he wanted, but this was far from on his own terms.  Skywalker had not come here alone; Darlik knew that there would soon be reenforcements. The element of surprise was lost, and Skywalker was motivated, determined to face him. Even removed from the Force, he could see strength welling in the man.

   Darlik turned, and ran.

~

   The Jade's Fire dove through the formation like a projectile, breaking through the field of magnetism Laus' ships had created. That dissipated energy sent a wave of backscatter bursting like a bubble in its wake as the Fire shot through. The wounded ship cleared the convergence, and fell like a meteor beyond it.

   Ghent pulled the Wild Karrde out of the melee as Laus' ships started to break formation.  The freighters and many of the fighters that had been covering them were now trying to clear the air space around the Karrde before the electrical storm that the Jade's Fire had unleashed could completely fry their systems. For some it was already too late.  Their primary electrical systems had failed.  With only emergency life support and minimal propulsion left available to them, they were dead in the air, waiting to be captured. Many of the others were fast retreating.

   Several members of Coruscant's Home Defense force fell into escort beside the Wild Karrde.  And Mara was headed for an emergency landing.  Even with her ship's systems seriously impaired by the electrical barrage it had undertaken, she somehow managed to direct the Jade's Fire into a skid across a partially cleared landing pad.

   Han took the Falcon in after her, and as he and Lando were getting Mara to safety New Republic fighters were working under Leia's direction.  Following the attack strategy Karrde had used earlier, the New Republic was beginning to turn the tide on Laus' attack force for the first time.

~

   Atamvr and the Nogrhi had held off the last squadron of enemy fighters long enough for Luke to make it into the stairwell and up the final flight of stairs that stood between him and his family. A few minutes later Atamvr and the Nogrhi had finished it.

   "Luke?!" Atamvr called as he bounded up the last steps, and his footsteps skidded to a momentary halt.  The fallen forms of Nogrhi warriors and enemy fighters littered the darkened hallway ahead, and Atamvr made his cautious way past them while the Nogrhi warriors who had accompanied him began setting up a defense perimeter in the hall outside the suite.  His lightsaber at the ready in his hand, Atamvr cleared the disabled door just as he heard Luke call back.

   "The room's clear."

   Atamvr released a relieved breath and caught himself on the corner as he changed his course and swung around into the hallway in the direction of Luke's call. There, Luke was kneeling down beside Lara on the floor. They both glanced calmly in his direction, and Atamvr knew immediately that it wasn't bad.

   "We're all right," Luke assured his friend as he helped Lara to sit up.

   "What happened?" Atamvr asked, catching his breath.

   "He ran," Luke explained, motioning away; Luke was also slightly out of breath. 

   Atamvr regrouped his emotions, a familiar determination crossing him as he weighed their options.  Darlik had to be stopped; they both knew that. And Luke's place was here. Atamvr nodded. Decision made, he turned back to give chase. 

   "Stay here," Atamvr instructed the two Noghri warriors who had flanked him when he exited the suite. A slight hissing noise from one of them betrayed their displeasure with that order. 

   "There may be more of them," a gravelly voice warned Atamvr, but the Nogrhi had already come to a halt behind him.

   "The soldiers don't concern me," Atamvr answered calmly. "Stay here.  Keep the family secure," he insisted.  Atamvr paused when he opened the door to the stairwell, and he turned to look back at the Nogrhi.  "That's your priority.  Keeping Darlik from escaping is mine."

   The door closed behind him and Atamvr stood silently in the dimly lit stairwell, considering his next move.  Darlik wouldn't have gone up; there was no external escape from the high security sections above their heads. He must have gone down... but where? Atamvr pulled his comm and contacted Leia.

   "Leia?"

   "Atamvr. Thank the Force," she answered.

   "Everyone's safe here," he reported. "I'm tracking Darlik.  I need you to check Palace security; look for any unsecured entrances in the lower levels of the residential area. He must have had an escape route planned, something with a landing pad nearby."

   "I've got one. Level 157. I'll send our people to secure the landing pad."

   "Thanks, Leia," Atamvr answered, already taking the steps a couple at a time.

   "May the Force be with you," she whispered before she cut the communication.

   Atamvr shoved the comm unit back in his pocket and continued taking the steps down at a quick clip.  When he opened the door to the platform on level 157 a few minutes later, the first thing he saw was the freighter's pilot and copilot being led from their ship. Darlik saw it too. He quickly wheeled and retraced his steps; in the dark he hadn't yet been spotted by Palace security, but Atamvr was standing between him and his escape back into the Palace.

   "Hold it right there, Darlik," Atamvr warned, igniting his lightsaber.

   Darlik smiled and glanced behind him.  With security forces on one side, Atamvr on the other, and his captured pilot and copilot too close for comfort... he needed a different venue.

   Darlik turned and ran at top speed toward the edge of the platform, causing the security personnel to pull their weapons, taking aim on the man who was attempting to evade capture.

   "No. Hold your fire," Atamvr yelled, himself giving chase.  Atamvr retracted his weapon, keeping it ready in his hand as he jumped, following where Darlik had stepped off the side of the platform a moment earlier, free falling the distance to another platform below them. 

   Atamvr landed hard, sinking into a crouch as the impact jarred his body. He reattached his lightsaber to his side where it would be more secure, and got to his feet.  Darlik had taken off at a sprint across a string of nearby private citizen's landing platforms.  Atamvr pursued, the two of them jumping between the platforms and free falling the distance between at breakneck speeds, showing reckless abandon for the shifting winds.

   Gradually Atamvr was closing the distance between them, when Darlik suddenly came to a halt and wheeled back to face him.  Atamvr pulled up as Darlik turned around, a red blade suddenly in hand and ignited. But Atamvr's own lightsaber made it into his hand instinctively, and he met his opponent's attack with equal defense.

   The duel ranged for many minutes over the platforms, set against the Coruscant night and the firefight of the air battle that was still taking place in the sky above them. It was a close match, in technical skill alone; then, in a single blinding rush of sensation, the effects of the Force-repressing serum wore off.

~

   Lara winced. The pain that had radiated from the back of her head when she sat up left her momentarily light-headed.  She rubbed the spot warily; there was already a knot forming there. Luke looked away in the direction where Atamvr had just disappeared a moment earlier before he turned back to Lara, and his gaze searched over her more thoroughly, just now suspecting injury in the oddity that she was remaining still on the floor. That gaze quickly came to rest on her injured leg.

   "Are you okay," Luke asked softly, his eyes moving worriedly back to hers.

   She nodded.  "I'm not feeling it.  Too much adrenaline," she shrugged, brushing off the severity of the emotion that she could see in his eyes and feel in her own trembling muscles. 

   Luke said it anyway. "That was too close," he breathed.

   "I'm okay," she whispered back, but his thought was throbbing in her mind. It had been way too close.

   Luke only nodded back, numbly. And he tried to clear his mind of the overwhelming emotions as he held her to him for a long moment. Despite the strong words Luke could feel her trembling, and he held her closer, worried for her, but not just for her.

   Lara held her husband tightly in return. "We're okay," she whispered a soft correction in his ear.

   Luke smiled and allowed himself to hold her for another moment, assuring himself that she truly was unharmed.  Then he pulled back and focused his thoughts on practical matters.

   "I'll get the aid kit before it sets in," he whispered, motioning to her leg as he moved back slowly, shifting his weight to stand.  But Luke stopped in mid-motion as the door behind Lara cracked open.  He lifted his eyes, his heart twisting at the worry that he saw in his children's faces.

   Lara gave his hand a supportive squeeze, seeing that heartache reflected in his face. 

   "We 'erd your voices," Mark explained cautiously.  The boys weren't entirely sure if they had done the right thing by opening the door, and they stayed inside just to be certain.

   "Daddy, s'it okay t'come out now?" Ben asked.

   Luke nodded, opening his arms to them, and they rushed to him.

   "It's okay now," he said softly as he held on to his children. Lara reached out to them, kissed them each. 

   "W'still can't feel each'tother," Mark whispered. 

   Almost on cue, the effect wore off. 

   "Okay?" Luke asked them each, his voice at once soft and strong as his eyes searched over them.  Clearly, nothing was more important than their well-being in that moment.  "Okay," he said more quietly, a hint of a prompt resting behind even more quiet relief.  "You guys know where the aid kit is."

   They both nodded, and paused only a moment before running to the kitchenette. 

   "Ready?" he asked Lara, his tone shifting again, gently and quietly prompting.

   She nodded and, carefully, Luke eased his arms around her to carry her into the living room. She winced a bit as he set her down on the sofa, and he moved quickly to treat the cut for pain. The twins had brought the aid kit to him, and Lara pulled them each onto the sofa beside her, keeping her attention on them, honest smiles for her children.

   Luke smiled when he looked up to see her holding on to them, again focused on them, and he turned back to his work, trying not to show his worry over the seriousness of the injury. He was realizing that the gash would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to reconstruct with just an aid kit.  A few moments later Ben wiggled down by his father's side. Luke spoke gently to him, asking him to be careful; Luke was beginning to treat the deeper injuries, but the child was unaffected by the warning.

   "I can'elp," he exclaimed undauntedly, and he reached to his father's hand, guiding him. Luke didn't question it. He could sence that the child knew, how best to bring the severed muscles and tendons back into place for their regeneration. 

   Luke and Lara exchanged amazed glances, but they had long since stopped expecting to know the limitations of their children's abilities. Within a few minutes, he was wrapping a wound that he had expected to take half an hour with, if not having to take Lara to med for the reconstruction. 

~

   Karrde suppressed a smile as he stopped outside the med center's trauma ward.  It was hard work. Han and Lando had already told him that Mara had been checked over and assigned to a recovery room where she would receive treatments for the next couple of days. He wasn't really surprised to find that Mara didn't agree with the medics' more cautious assessment of her condition, but Karrde didn't know when he'd been so relieved to hear Mara's stubborn protesting. 

   "Mara, please. You've already been nearly crisped!" he intoned as he stepped into her room. "Give it a rest and let these people do their jobs."

   Mara's attention locked on Karrde. "Did you get the Wild Karrde out?"

   "Yes.  Everything is under control."

   "The fighters–"

   "NRI is using Ghent's approach to combat them. It won't last much longer."

   She relaxed, finally. 

   "Now will you rest?" Karrde asked pointedly, exasperation in his voice.

   Mara grimaced. "I'm fine."  But she looked very tired suddenly.

   Mara had absorbed a great deal of raw energy when she had used the Jade's Fire to disrupt the magnetic field that had trapped the Karrde, and the medics had warned her that she would require a gradual recovery in order for her body to fully overcome the effects of radiation exposure.  Over the next few days she could expect to experience a great deal of fatigue, but the infusion they had started her on was supposed to aid cell regeneration and ease her discomfort as her immune system began purging those cells that were damaged beyond repair.

   Right now Mara felt weakened and stressed on every level.  And when the Force washed over her senses, the intensity of that sensation was almost overwhelming. She looked away, and Karrde worried aloud that his presence was tiring her. 

   "No," she said softly. "It's gone now, the ysalamiri influence. Things are just a little more disorienting inside my head," she grumbled.

   "Oh," Karrde said cautiously.  But Mara had already sensed the change in his emotions; there was an added caution now that he knew she was aware of his feelings.  She could feel something more from Karrde than the cautious friendship that she had come to expect... and that was a little discomforting on top of everything else.

   Mara closed her eyes again and tried to clear her mind.  She reached out to the Force, mildly surprised at how instinctively that action came, and Mara let its strength steady her. A small smile escaped her as she felt her focus renew; her strength seemed to deepen, and she felt at peace... refreshed. Physically, her body was still weakened – it would take time for her to heal – but mentally, she felt stronger, more able to carry her burdens.

   "I guess I'll have to thank Skywalker, for some of this Force stuff," Mara thought out loud. Her smile served to lessen the rueful edge in her voice. She no longer found it so difficult to admit that he had been right about her potential, but there was a part of her that still felt it important to begrudge the Jedi that knowledge. After all, he may be right most of the time, but everybody didn't have to tell him so.

   Mara's smile faded a moment later. "What?" she half demanded. Karrde had pretty good control over his emotions, but she had picked up on his restraint when she had mentioned Skywalker's name, and Mara was suddenly afraid to hear his answer.

   Karrde grimaced. "Luke. The last I saw, he and Atamvr were racing out of the observation deck... after Darlik."

   "Darlik?"  Mara's eyes widened, then met Karrde's in understanding. 

   "That was when Luke realized there were ysalamiri here."

   "Laus still wants Lara," Mara realized.

   Karrde gave a half nod.  "Laus' attack on us was only one part of his plan."

   "And Darlik knew that Laus' plan could give him a way to get to Luke."

   Mara shut her eyes tightly, trying to cut through the swirling turmoil of her own emotions and the onslaught of her returning fatigue.  She reached out to the Force for knowledge... but her own swirling emotions and a lurking fear of her own failure won out.  She couldn't manage to reach beyond those things... and she was too tired to keep fighting against them.

   "Blast it," she breathed, tilting her head back against her pillow in frustration. But as soon as the old habit had resurfaced new ones began to overpower it. She looked out the window into the Coruscant night and tried to relax her mind again. She didn't have the luxury of impatience, and she couldn't afford to loose control over her emotions.  But her eyes strained unexpectedly as her expression slowly changed.

   "Karrde, tell me you're not seeing this," she breathed, sitting up to continue looking out the window.

   He glanced toward the window, puzzled, and then leaned across her to follow her line of sight. And Karrde suppressed a swear as he reached to his belt for his macros, bringing them into focus worriedly.  The two battling light sources out on the platforms resolved into lightsabers under the added magnification. And from what he was seeing, the two figures wielding them were equally matched in the duel.  It was Mara's deeply worried expression that gave him the answer to his question.

   "That's not Luke out there, is it?" he asked rhetorically.

   Mara shook her head, not knowing which outcome would do the most harm. She knew her own shortcomings when it came to the Force, but she also knew people.  She knew what it did to a good person to take another life, and she knew that Atamvr wasn't ready for that burden. 

   "He won't be able to do it," Karrde breathed her thought. 

   Mara shivered. "It should be me out there.  Even Luke." She shook her head against the thought.  "Even if he can bring himself to do it... he's not ready for it."

~ 

   Darlik smiled. The Force's energy surrounded him. Either he had finally managed to put enough distance between himself and the others in the landing party, or the effects of Laus' serum had simply worn off; Darlik didn't know and didn't care for what reason the Force had been returned to him. But he was sure that the advantage was his now.  The dark side fueled the smoldering aggression in his emotions into a raging fire, and Darlik met his opponent with a vicious assault.

   Atamvr concentrated on blocking each blow. This attack was noticeably stronger than the last one had been, even without taking into account that new, eerie feel in Atamvr's head.  The dark side of the Force crackled at the edges of his consciousness, like the fearsome energy a fast-approaching storm. But Atamvr allowed the light to wash over him, holding the darkness at bay as it guided his thoughts and his actions.

   Their lightsabers connected heavily, each man putting the strength of his whole body into the motion, and they stood looking into each other's eyes for an instant before they pushed apart, each one unable to secure an advantage. Atamvr used a back flip to further distance himself from his opponent. He was breathing hard, his brow damp with sweat despite the coolness of the evening air that was whipping around them.

   Darlik stalked forward.  "Now you will see," he taunted his opponent as he rapidly closed the distance between them. "This weakness that Skywalker has taught you – it won't protect you against the dark side, in all of its power."

   Sadness mixed with the truth in his mind, and Atamvr shook his head in answer to Darlik's words. "Only the illusion of power, that's all the darkness can ever give you.  Never real strength."

   Atamvr's blade moved seemingly of its own accord to block another series of well-placed blows, but this attack was less controlled, more frenzied.  The feel of those dark emotions was again intensifying....

   "Of course," Darlik taunted, his voice grating with condescension. "You don't hear the sounds I hear; you don't feel the fear you feel." Darlik smirked knowingly.  "I can feel the fear in you."

   Atamvr stubbornly brought his emotions back to calm. "You never gave the light a chance, Darlik," he persisted.  "You don't need that power. You can find your own strength.  Just listen to the good in yourself." Atamvr felt the flash of anger and disgust in his opponent. 

   "Turn to the good side?  Become a Jedi Knight?" Darlik scoffed.  "And live a life of service, and suffering, and weakness? No.  Never.  You follow Skywalker; you be those things.  Follow them to your death.  Never again will I be hunted, abused and despised by lessors that I could crush in an instant. No.  I will have vengeance.  And I will be feared. Starting now, with you."

   Darlik wasted no time in throwing another series of blows. Atamvr countered, parried, and counter-struck at a feverish pace, but his opponent only seemed to grow stronger as the dark emotions within him intensified at an alarming rate.  And the duel between them intensified to levels beyond what each had experienced.  Atamvr drew deeper into himself, calling upon his own strength in the Force more fully than he ever had before, meeting Darlik in defense... letting the Force become his defense.

   Light and dark, strength and power, defense and aggression.  A duel that ranged through the Coruscant night until both men were fatigued... and Darlik faltered where Atamvr found strength. Atamvr's block found its mark as it had countless times over the past several minutes, but Atamvr felt his opponent's grip on his weapon give way.  Atamvr dropped down to a knee and curled his blade around Darlik's, swiftly prying the weapon from his hand. Before Darlik could call the blade back to his grip, the tip of Atamvr's blue blade was pointed at his throat.

   "It's over, Darlik," Atamvr said, slowly standing up straight, keeping his blade trained on Darlik as he did so.

   Darlik's hands flayed at his side in a show of submission, but Atamvr did not trust it.

   "Then end it," the man challenged, stepping closer to the deadly blade that was poised at his throat.

   Atamvr drew back instinctively, as Darlik had known that he would.

   "No? Then it will be over when I end it.  When I have brought this New Republic to its knees, when I have seen you dead, and seen Skywalker broken and defeated before I end his miserable life."

   Atamvr felt his stomach turn, and his heart twisted in shock... there would be no other way to end this.  The loser would not walk away from this fight.  Darlik had stepped back while Atamvr's momentum was still carrying him backward, and in the next second Atamvr realized the enormity of his mistake. Atamvr's moment of hesitation had allowed Darlik to recover his ground.

   "Taking you down is going to be so easy," Darlik grated through a menacing grin. His lightsaber was in his hand and ignited.

   There was only a split second as Darlik came at him again, furiously.  Atamvr threw himself out of the way of that attack and he turned back, whirling around to meet the next onslaught. Already, Darlik was almost on top of him.  In the next second there was only action and its reaction.  Atamvr swung his blade. And Darlik was cut down.

~

   They all felt the disturbance that marked the end of Darlik's life.  Luke and Lara held a knowing gaze, fully aware of what it meant.

   "It's over," Luke said. 

   There was relief in his voice for his family's safety, but there was also an underlying sadness and frustration in him for the loss. Lara reached to take his hand. The boys didn't ask, but snuggled closer to their parents, knowing that something had happened.

   The quiet explanations of the danger that had been, and the gentle assurances that they would always be protected, no matter what.... Those things that had come so easily and so strongly, just a moment ago soothing and peaceful... now it was all more hollow, more chilled.

   The twins snuggled closer to them, wide-eyed, and Luke and Lara held on to their children, the ways to protect them suddenly shifting from their grip of knowledge.  Lara took a deep breath, closing her eyes to everything else and opening her heart to her children's emotions.  As he had done so many times before in these moments, Luke followed his wife's lead, quieting his own emotions and pulling peace to himself so that he could show all that he had of safety and love to their children. 

   Slowly, those feelings reinforced between the four of them.  Luke and Lara sat quietly, showing their sons safety in protective arms' warmth, keeping them secure in the boundless love they felt for their children... and the eerie discomfort gradually passed. They assured the twins that it was okay to ask questions, but there were none yet.  And they kept the feel of safety and warmth that had surrounded them, even after the embraces were released.

   Luke held Ben in his lap as he finished tying off the bandaging around Lara's leg. Her injury would still require a bacta wrap to repair the tissue damage and speed its healing, but that could wait until tomorrow.  None of them were going anywhere tonight. Lara was holding Mark, her chin resting against his head; with a mother's unabashed affection, she kissed the top of his head and mussed his hair as she held him in her arms.  The twins were still a little worried by the things they didn't fully understand, and they were very much aware of their parents and their surroundings, but they weren't afraid.  They settled themselves close by their parents' sides, slowly growing sleepy.

~

   "Well. It's finished then," Karrde said numbly. The expression on Mara's face told him all he needed to know.

   She nodded, her eyes unfocused.  "Darlik is finished," Mara corrected quietly.

   "Right," Karrde echoed, and he shook himself loose from her heavy voice and expression.  She needed to rest.  He was about to excuse himself when there was a light knock behind him.

   "I hope I'm not intruding," Lando Calrissian offered mildly.

   "Not at all," Mara answered him, offering an open invitation as Karrde shifted nervously in his seat.  "I know I'm dying to hear about this big scheme Karrde's got cooked up for you." 

   "Scheme?" Lando questioned.  Behind that smooth voice and cool facade he was suddenly looking for all the world like Solo, playing at that innocent act.

   "I prefer 'shady business venture,'" Karrde countered wryly, looking back to her. 

   Mara grinned.  "Fine.  Go. Discuss," she waved him away. 

   "I'll be back," Karrde assured her, yet to move a muscle. 

   "You don't think I know that?" Mara returned, raising her eyebrows at him as he stood.

   "Feel better, Mara," Lando added a little distractedly before he followed Karrde out of the room. 

   Mara smiled again, seeing Lando's obvious curiosity. And she tried to ignore her own curiosity as she closed her eyes to try and get some rest. 

~

   Somewhere over in the residential floors of the Palace, Lara had also let her eyes close, giving in to the mix of receding adrenaline and sleeping children.  Luke stood and walked to the hall closet to retrieve a blanket.  His thoughts were worried and troubled. He regretted this turn of events... but he knew it was something that Atamvr would have had to face eventually.

   The Jedi sighed heavily. For all of his protective nature, Luke knew that he couldn't shield his young apprentice from this.  Luke had seen more than his share of war, known the death and destruction that came along with it.  No matter the circumstances, there were few burdens in life that were more difficult to carry than the responsibility of having ended a life; it was a horrible thing to know yourself capable of.

   Luke draped the blanket over his sleeping children and sat down near his wife, watching over his family.  Lara was drowsy, but not so much that she wasn't aware of his presence. She felt his joy and relief as his fingers curled into hers, and she squeezed his hand in reassurance.  Luke smiled and closed his eyes, gratefully letting his emotions reach out to her, touching the tiny, fragile lives inside her... not even a month old.  The amazing feel of those tiny lives was enough to rekindle his hope and wonder, but Luke's smile slowly faded as a part of him waited.

   Luke looked up a moment later, and Lara opened her eyes when she felt Atamvr return. The younger man entered the suite slowly, glancing at the twins and at Lara's elevated, bandaged leg as his footsteps brought him into the living room.  Only then did he look Luke in the eye. 

   "He didn't give me any other choice. I didn't want to do it."

   Luke stood and placed a stabilizing hand to his apprentice's shoulder. "I know," Luke assured him softly.

   "I'm sorry, Luke," Atamvr managed.

   Luke shook his head, just slightly.  "We all wish it could have gone differently.  But it didn't," he said gently.  "You did all that you could.  And you did what you had to.  I'm proud of you, Atamvr." 

   Atamvr felt the reassurance offered in Luke's voice as clearly as he heard the words.  But he also knew, he could feel, that Luke was as torn by the loss as he was.  And Atamvr hadn't felt such an empty feeling of loss and shock in a very long time. He glanced cautiously toward Lara, who nodded in agreement and offered him her sympathy. 

   "You didn't act out of anger or vengeance, or in any kind of justification; there is none. We should never have to kill, and we should never get used to it.  But you acted well. You acted to protect, in the only way that was left to you."

   Atamvr nodded, looking down. Lara meant what she said, just as Luke had; Atamvr just couldn't process what they were telling him at the moment.

   "Now your conscience is acting well," Luke whispered, "asking you if you did the right thing.  You'll have to be the one to answer it; you're the only one who can." Luke's other hand found Atamvr's shoulder, and he hugged his friend, his voice softening further. "Just know that no matter what you decide, we believe in you, Atamvr – in your actions and in your conscience."

   Atamvr nodded. It was still hard for him to accept what his friends were telling him. He felt such loss, and shock, and utter disillusionment.  How could this have been his fate?  He had taken a life, irreversible and irreplaceable.  After all that he and Luke had risked, and all that they had tried to do to help and protect Darlik, how could this have been his fate?  Now there was no more hope for him... he was lost, in all his lust for power. If only he could have let himself understand.  If only he could have let himself be helped. If only.... 

   The questions continued on, long after Luke and Lara had assured him that it was no imposition if he needed to talk, at any hour, and they left him to sleep the night on their sofa. Luke helped Lara to bed, and then put the twins, already sleeping, down for the night.  The lights flickered out around Atamvr... but the questions in his mind continued on. 

~

   The next morning came with memory gradually crashing into peaceful, forgetful, sleep.  And as Atamvr struggled with his waking thoughts, he awoke to another curious feeling.  He opened his eyes to find Mark, asleep, snuggled up against Atamvr's side.  A smile came unexpectedly to his face, along with an immediate sense of deep peace.  There, was an unquestionable reassurance of the value of life, and Atamvr felt an unspeakable joy fill his heart as he watched this child sleeping beside him. 

   Luke smiled as he peered into the lightening room. He recognized the peaceful fascination in Atamvr's expression as he watched Mark sleep, and though Luke was genuinely amazed to find his son here, he immediately understood why he was here.  The little boy had sensed need, and he had found a way to offer comfort. Even though their talents were unrealized, instinctual at this point in their lives, Luke was truly amazed at his children's abilities, and at their desires to use those abilities for the good of others.

   Atamvr glanced up as he heard Luke's footsteps, and Luke could tell by his face that Atamvr hadn't slept much.

   "I'll take him," Luke offered quietly.

   "No. It's okay," Atamvr responded quickly, his voice gentle.  "You don't have to wake him up."

   Luke grinned.  "Maybe you haven't seen a two year old sleep. A heard of screaming gundarks couldn't wake him now." 

   Atamvr grinned at the statement, and looked back to Mark again.  He couldn't imagine it; the child looked so small and fragile, and yet so peaceful, totally trusting of the universe around him.

   "How are you today?" Luke asked quietly, sensing the shift that Atamvr's mood had taken.

   "Honestly?" Atamvr weighted the word, "I don't know," he admitted. He looked back to Luke, a searching expression on his face and confusion in his eyes.  "I keep retracing this whole thing in my mind... and I just can't fathom how this can be its proper conclusion. I think I did the only thing I could have done," he concluded of himself. "But then I realize again that a being's life was ended, at my hands, and I simply don't know how that could be the right thing. Everything in me cries out against that feeling." 

   Atamvr fell silent for a moment, and Luke waited for the rest of what he had to say.

   "I feel a sense of loss that chills me to the bone.  And I feel fear," he whispered hesitantly, "like nothing I've ever felt before."

   "Loss is a very powerful source of fear," Luke spoke heavily.  "It reminds us too acutely of our own vulnerability. The only way to combat that is to have trust in the Force, an unfailing belief that no one event is greater than the whole purpose – not even death."

   Atamvr nodded, trying to understand, but he didn't look entirely convinced.  Luke stifled a wary smile as he refocused his thoughts to try another route at explanation.

   "When you reach out to the Force each life you feel gives an energy, its own unique blend of thought and emotion. And each one piece interconnects, like a mosaic, with countless other tiny pieces to form a whole. Thought and emotion forming a being, the life energy of each being interconnecting in the Force to become something... indescribable.  We don't fully understand it, but we trust it. We only see the pieces, each event, each life's individual course, all seen from our own points of view. But the Force is far greater that this alone, much further reaching.  The picture that the Force is creating, through all these many pieces, is much different than the one we see through our own lives."

   Atamvr nodded, and Luke could see the hopeful light of understanding, inspiration, in his eyes.

   "That is why we trust," Luke added softly, confidently, "and why we must continuously learn to put our own will and emotion aside, so that we can feel the energy of the Force, working all around us," Luke breathed, his voice lowering. Luke also saw clearly when that hopeful light dimmed from Atamvr's eyes.

   "What about the fear?" Atamvr asked. "When I was fighting Darlik, I felt fear, and he sensed it in me.  I was able to control it, but – it was still there, and he knew it.... Now, again, with this sense of loss, I feel fear. I know that the fear is dangerous, but how can I not feel it?"

   "Fear is a gateway," Luke responded evenly.  "It looks harmless, even unavoidable. But it's an uncomfortable place. And it quickly leads to anger as a way to escape it, and power as a means."

   Atamvr nodded, dropping his eyes to the recognition, overcome by a sudden feeling of helplessness against his own emotions.

   "We all feel fear," Luke responded with a mixture of reassurance and motivation, "just as we feel love and hate, want and need, strength and doubt. Strong emotions can be difficult adversaries – and any strong emotion, not just the ones we think of as being dangerous.  They all have the power to cloud our judgements, to push us into actions that are unwise. The question for a Jedi is always one of control.  Either we control our fear, or our fear controls us."  Luke paused, his silence giving further weight to the words. "That is the fight, and the victory lies in the continuous struggle.

   "Fear is an especially strong adversary," Luke added quietly, "perhaps because it hits us where and when we are most vulnerable. That doesn't make us defenseless against it though," he stated strongly. "Feeling fear can prompt you to act in anger, or it can remind you to reach out to the Force for calm, to rely more strongly on the light of the Force to give you peace, clarity – direction that transcends your immediate circumstance and the limitations that your own emotions will place on your vision and understanding. This is a great inner battle that we all face, Atamvr," Luke finished with simplistic ease, despite the seriousness of the challenge he spoke of. 

   "What happens when you have to act?" Atamvr asked softly.

   Luke listened and waited for him to continue.

   "I had Darlik beaten, but I hesitated. When he threatened me I felt fear, and not just for my own life.   I knew I would have to kill him in order to defeat him, and I had never considered that possibility. I was afraid I couldn't do it... but I couldn't allow him to walk away, couldn't let him win.  Then suddenly it was him or me. I had to strike him down, and I did it without thinking."  Atamvr shook his head.  "I don't know if that was right."

   "You didn't think. What did you feel in that moment?"

   Atamvr closed his eyes. 

   "Did you still feel fear?" Luke asked.

   Atamvr shook his head.

   "That was what Darlik was trying to push you into. He wanted you to give up your strength and act out of fear. But you refused to give in to that temptation. You refused to let fear determine your actions and take away your self control. That is why a Jedi learns the discipline, the defense, of passive peace. In times of intense emotion, the light of passive peace will ground you and strengthen you.  It will quiet the fear and let you feel the Force. It will pull you through in times when everything else is uncertain," Luke breathed with a certainty and an intensity born of powerful experience.

   "Only you know what happened out there, but my guess is that when the moment came, when action was needed, you didn't hesitate. You didn't think; you didn't feel. You simply trusted in the Force and let it act through you, just as you have done countless times before.  You acted with a Jedi's discipline." 

   Atamvr nodded thoughtfully, and Luke could already sense him turning inward, looking past the questions and the fears, seeking peace within himself.

   "Always remember, that no matter what challenges lie on the outside, the greatest battles are to be fought within. In those battles, sometimes it's hard even to distinguish the victories from the losses. And sometimes you realize that the greatest victories came at the places where you thought the strain would break you – but it didn't. You continued the struggle.  And the victory lies in the continuous struggle deep within you. Only that struggle will push you to be more than you think you can be."

   With a light brush of his student's shoulder, and a quiet smile for his sleeping son, Luke left them alone.

   Atamvr spent a long time in meditation over all that Luke had said to him, and all that he was feeling within himself.  When he opened his eyes again he did so with new hope in the value of his own nature. Killing would be something that he would consider only in the most extreme of dangers to himself or to those he was entrusted to protect. He knew that about himself now.  This experience had taught him, very vividly, the value of life. And above all the things that he understood was the certainty that no one being could ever feel the need or the justification to allot that value to another life.

~

   The day following the attack had been a chaotic one, as the whole of Coruscant tried to get a handle on what had just happened and how to respond.  The cleanup and rebuilding campaigns would continue for some time to come, but the calls for action were already generating massive attention and meaningful responses.

Coruscant seemed fully awakened and eager to focus on the threat they had so vividly seen. Senate hearings were set to begin tomorrow, after the recovery efforts had come to an end – as a show of respect for those who had lost their lives in the attack.

   By nightfall a silence finally seemed to descend upon the weary planet, as though the shock was wearing off. The day's flurry of activity would wear on well into the night, but for those who had come through this, there was still one thing remaining. The lost had to be remembered. It was happening in countless vigils and around makeshift memorials all across the planet. In the Skywalker suite tonight, the living area was lit with countless candles.  Their glow picked out the room's occupants in soft, flickering light.

   The units of Nogrhi warriors who so faithfully served the family were gathered into a tight group surrounding a cluster of candles; one lit for each of their comrades lost. It was a sacred time, a time of respect, a time of mourning.

   After a long silence, their eldest member stepped back from the group.

   Luke and Leia stood a few steps away, their families surrounding them. Chewie rumbled a mournful sound that spoke for all of them, then Luke took a steadying breath and he gave a light squeeze against his son's shoulder before he stepped forward, moving between his two young children and crossing the short distance to the place where the elder Nogrhi stood.  In the eyes of the Nogrhi Luke was the head of his family clan, the son of Vader.  As such, he would speak for them all.

   Lara's arm moved across Ben's shoulder, gently holding him and Mark in front of her when Luke stepped away, and the three of them stood quietly, reverently. It was a difficult blend of emotion to understand, she realized, even for an adult. There was sadness, and helplessness. Underlying those emotions, there was an ardent and resolute desire for some form of action, remedy... but the wish was one that fell in vain. Their place was to show respect and honor, in their emotion and in their restraint of emotion. So she worked at balancing her own feelings and tried to offer her children an understanding of this moment by sharing her emotions with them.  Lara allowed the difficult emotions to have their full strength in her heart, and struggled to bare their heavy weight with honesty and dignity.

   Luke went forward and slowly bowed to the elder Nogrhi.  Then he took another step forward to kneel down before the cluster of candles; there, he removed his lightsaber from his belt and held it before him with both hands.  His every motion showed respect, one warrior's salute to another, for the fallen.

   The eldest of the Nogrhi recited the list of names, each warrior, and the family clan they served. After each was read there was a pause, and all present answered the silence with the conformation: "We honor you."  And following each response, one of the Nogrhi warriors extinguished a candle from the cluster. But as each flame was extinguished, the candle itself took on a glow, as if remembering the light. Remembering that life.

   The list was finished. After another moment had passed Luke stood, and the Nogrhi easily broke from their tight ranks.  Luke looked back to the others who were standing nearby, his dearest loved ones.  Somber and tearful faces, not just for the sadness of the occasion, but for the depth of emotion that came in realizing the magnitude of the sacrifice that had been freely given for them. It was an emotion that he both shared, and sought to properly express.

   "We honor you all," he spoke strongly to the Nogrhi. "A debt of honor that, I pledge to you, will never be forgotten.  The young will remember this day," Luke added with a knowing smile, one that showed pride and confidence in the declaration. 

   Leia stepped forward to stand beside him, to add her commitment and her support to his.  "We will never forget the bravery and dedication of the lost," her strong voice confirmed. 

   "The Skywalker name will forever dwell in service to the Nogrhi," Luke promised. Then they both knelt to the floor, sealing their words with a familiar gesture of supplication.  

~

   The Senate opened session the following morning with a moment of silence and a renewal of the previous day's promises to find the perpetrators of this violent attack against the heart of the New Republic and to bring them to justice. This hearing was the first step in making known to the Senate Whole and to the population of the New Republic that a warlord from the outer rim territories named Wanton Laus was behind this attack.  It was also an important step in gathering support for any action that the New Republic would take against Laus as a result.

   The first day was something of a star-studded event. The list of witnesses set to testify before the open Senate read like a Rebellion hero's role call: Leia Organa Solo, Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, Wedge Antilles, and Luke Skywalker all took the stand. Many in the Senate and most of the public were also getting a first look at notorious trader and New Republic ally, Talon Karrde, along with his second in command, Mara Jade.  Anyone watching Mara Jade's testimony would probably have been surprised to learn that the contentious redhead was actually a bit more subdued than usual.  The average observer would also have quickly dismissed the rumor that this woman was one of Luke Skywalker's apprentices as a ridiculously far-fetched notion.

   The two least familiar names on the witness list were drawing perhaps the most curiosity.  Atamvr Luminas, a student of Luke Skywalker's for several years, was rumored to be declared a Jedi Knight any day now. It was also rumored that he had been involved in a lightsaber duel the night of the attack... but Coruscant officials were declining to confirm or to deny those reports.  The second name was that of Lara Dare Skywalker. Most people knew her name; she was married to one of most famous beings in galaxy, but Luke Skywalker's wife rarely made any sort of publicized appearance. It was common knowledge that she had once been an Imperial conscript, and that she had no family.  Most people put two and two together and surmised that her life had followed a path similar to a million others: the Empire had taken what it had deemed useful and destroyed the rest. She had managed to survive her time in the Empire and had eventually ended up with the New Republic.  Lara Dare and Luke Skywalker had married just over four years ago.

   Both Skywalkers guarded their privacy closely and tended to avoid arousing the media's interest. Today the curiosity surrounding Lara Dare Skywalker was increased by the obvious evidence of an injury, which was betrayed by a slight limp in her step. It didn't take the media that was covering the day's proceedings very long to notice her husband discretely helping her to and from her seat beside him whenever the general audience was required to stand. The live broadcast feed of today's hearings would show that view several times, along with frequent shots of one of them whispering in the other's ear as each listened patiently to the ongoing testimony... and those images would be all over the media outlets within a few hours....

   The Senate inquiry questioned them all as to the events of two days ago, and Laus' involvement in those events.  Leia Organa Solo, Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, and Wedge Antilles each recounted the danger of the aerial assault that had been unleashed upon the planet.  Then Luke Skywalker and Atamvr Luminas described an invasion force that had penetrated the Imperial Palace, and how that attack had been ended before it had fully unfolded, though they each avoided giving further details on the matter. 

   The investigation was still underway, Luke Skywalker assured the Senate with his trademark calm confidence.  There were many high-profile citizens and many important political figures making their residences in the Imperial Palace. Perhaps the motive had been kidnaping, perhaps murder. Thankfully, they might never know because the plot had been thwarted and Laus' intentions had failed.

   Next, Talon Karrde and Mara Jade described the campaign that Laus had carried out against them, presumably as a means to discourage their further cooperation with the New Republic... and their thinly veiled appeal for support from the New Republic in their fight against Laus was lost on no one in their audience.  Luke Skywalker briefly returned to the stand to help link Laus' attacks on Karrde and the attack on Coruscant to previous attacks on New Republic territories like Rhaci.  He also laid out the evidence NRI had recently obtained implicating Laus as a weapons dealer with a long history of supplying Imperial remnant groups.

   The final witness called to the stand was Lara Dare Skywalker. Han Solo got to his feet beside her just as Luke Skywalker returned. Solo smiled and placed a hand to his brother-in-law's arm in a good-natured show of support, and he stayed where he was for another few moments while Luke's hand found Lara's elbow, steading her just slightly as she got to her feet and gingerly put weight on her left leg.  Luke and Han effectively kept her out of the spotlight for a few seconds while she got to her feet, then they each took their seats again; that done, Lara simply tried to keep the pain out of her expression and chase the limp from her step as she went forward to testify.  Her place was to conclude the proceedings by speaking about the danger Laus still posed along the outer rim in places like the Myrtle system and the Tritis territories, and all her concentration was on that task, the opportunity that she had been given today to speak out on a topic she felt very strongly about, and, hopefully, to help make a difference.  

~

   Throughout the New Republic ordinary citizens were riveted to the ongoing testimony from Coruscant. It was no different for those beyond the New Republic's borders, and on the outskirts of the Myrtle system, in a room occupied by one man, Wanton Laus focused his gaze on the transmission. 

   His face was haggard with sleeplessness. He had spent the last thirty-six hours in this room, regrouping in the face of an enormous and completely unexpected failure. His offensive at Coruscant was supposed to put an end to Karrde and put to rest for once and for all the possibility that Karrde could share knowledge with the New Republic that would prove damning to Laus' future plans.  Instead Karrde had survived, he had managed to transfer information to the New Republic before Laus' force could intervene, and now Karrde and the New Republic had found a way to exploit weaknesses in his most valuable weapons, the ICHTS fighters. To make matters worse Darlik had also failed in his mission, leaving Laus without another vital piece of his plan.

   Without a decisive victory over Karrde and with the effectiveness of his fighters now in question, Laus would have a harder time than ever securing the backing of the Tritis contingency. He looked up from the strategic maps which highlighted his strengths and outlined his offensive plans. The infrastructure he had built was his greatest remaining advantage.  If he used it effectively he might be able to offset the losses of ICHTS fighters that now had to be anticipated in his move against the New Republic....

   Laus stopped what he was doing.  The name of the next witness had caught his attention, and he stood watching the transmission feed for many minutes.

   "I began my testimony by telling you about my home.  I would like to close by asking for your help.  The Myrtle system was once a prospering and respectable trade sector, full of elegance and vibrant natural beauty.  Full of life, like dozens of other systems all along the outer rim. Now, because of a ruthless warlord named Wanton Laus, and the many others like him, the prosperous and the respectable have been driven away from their homes and their ways of life.

   "It doesn't have to be that way. And we cannot allow it to remain that way any longer.  I ask the New Republic, its leaders, its citizens, its neighbors, and its friends to join together against these lawless forces.  Men like Wanton Laus cannot continue to run roughshod over entire systems the way Laus has done in the Myrtle system. We cannot allow the way of life I remember, the way of life so many beings are longing for, to die. And we must refuse to allow Laus a sanctuary from which he is free to launch attacks like this one against our innocent citizens."

   Laus turned off the feed.  How had it come to this?  Suddenly Dare was speaking out for the New Republic, against him. It was a crushing blow... but only if defeat was allowed to become an option.  Laus had planned for a contingency like this one.  Since the moment he had learned that Lara Dare had remained on Coruscant in the wake of another Senate action, he had known that her cooperation in his plan would be unlikely.  Still, her presence had been a necessity.

   Now Laus knew that gaining the service of Lara Dare might be his only hope of salvaging his plans.

~

   Closer to Coruscant, a medical ship's pilot was making a much-needed delivery to the capitol.  He was grateful for his cargo and for his mission of mercy; he didn't think twice about possibility of danger.  He had faced worse.  Many years ago, during the Rebellion, he had once smuggled medical supplies for the Rebel Alliance.  Now he carried an honest cargo that specialized in medical equipment. These days it was a welcome relief to no longer have his life in danger with every shipment, but he had never regretted the decision to do the right thing back then, despite the cost he had paid for those actions.

   The man kept watch with pride over the testimony given by faces familiar to him from the old Rebellion days.  The years showed a little more on those faces than they did in his memory, and there were a few new faces as well.  Talon Karrde, for example, was a man he knew by reputation and respected....  When Luke Skywalker took the stand for a second time, the pilot was forced to pull his attention away from the Jedi's words.  Making his approach to Coruscant, navigating its difficult airspace and unfamiliar traffic patterns would require all of his attention today.

   He put down on a landing pad adjacent to Coruscant's Central Medical Center, nearest the site of the attack, where most of wounded had been taken.  The man sat back in his seat and allowed himself a satisfied sigh.  He had made it here, and he knew that the supplies he carried would be put to good use. His attention flickered back over to the transmission feed that he had left on, the volume lowered.  The final witness had taken the stand. She delivered an emotionally stirring remembrance of what was, and a rallying point to what could be again for the suffering systems of outer rim that had been lost to the lawless rule of ruthless warlords like Laus, the man who had staged this brazen attack against New Republic's capitol. 

   But very little of the content of her speech registered with the man.  It was the past that came rushing back in the wake of her words, and those memories left him fuming with anger. 

~

   Most of the day's star witnesses and many members of the Senate Inner Council adjourned to the Inner Council Chamber while the Senate floor was being cleared and the media representatives were rushing back to their headquarters to continue their coverage of today's events.

   The Senate had ended its session by passing several measures intended to aid in Laus' capture. Among those had been a vote of support for New Republic allies like Talon Karrde.  Members of the Senate had been impressed with his hard-fought battle against Laus, and as a result he would be granted New Republic support as he continued in his actions against Laus.  In the Inner Council Chamber, the New Republic's high ranking military officials were even more anxious than the Senate had been to help Karrde.  They knew that someone like Karrde could move much more quickly than the New Republic, and now that he had the Senate's support there was nothing to prevent NRI and the New Republic's military from working more closely with him.

   The senate hearing was the public face of the investigation against Laus.  That hearing and its resulting resolutions would allow progress.  It would build resolve as it brought facts to light, but it would take time and careful planning to translate those resolutions into action.  Karrde could take the lead in that offensive and continue to keep Laus pinned down until New Republic forces were ready to fully join the fight. Behind the scenes, plans were already being made that would send New Republic forces into several of the rim territories currently under faction control, including the Myrtle system. Laus' failed action against Coruscant had opened a door for his prosecution, and for the prosecution of all those groups that had remained so illusive in the past.  Now there would be nowhere for them to hide; their sanctuary would evaporate in the wake of this failure, and the New Republic seemed eager to take advantage of circumstances that had unexpectedly turned in their favor in the wake of this ordeal.

   As a show of good faith in his new partnership with the New Republic Karrde had agreed to turn over the data he had obtained from the Tangrene files to NRI.  Leia was currently mediating Karrde's discussion with Admiral Ackbar, while Han Solo stood just far enough away so that he could overhear the whole thing while still appearing to be involved in Lando and Wedge's discussion about the mystery fighters. 

   A short distance away from them, Luke and Atamvr were having a frank discussion about what it would take to reclaim Laus' territory.

   "I thought I understood what was at stake," Atamvr admitted, "but listening to Lara today....  She was talking about basic freedoms, the right that beings in the Myrtle system and all along the outer rim have to be able to live on their home worlds, on their own terms, and that they be able to work and create lives for themselves without having to live in fear."

   "We can make that happen for them, but it won't come easily," Luke said softly.  They both knew that the challenges in reclaiming those territories would be great, but Luke could sense something more than that knowledge in Atamvr's sudden determination.

   "The system will need a presence," Atamvr offered cautiously, "someone to lead the effort."

   Luke nodded, understanding what his student was asking.  He had seen Atamvr handle great challenges with great courage and grace, with unwavering perseverance, and with true strength in the light of the Force.  The man who stood before Luke had grown through difficult times, and he was ready to face his own challenges. 

   "They will," Luke answered.  "They will need someone to places their hopes and trust in, someone who can make them believe in themselves as they fight to be free from Laus' oppression."

   Avamvr smiled, sensing the challenge in Luke's voice.

   "You're ready, Atamvr," Luke added quietly, with the slightest show of a proud smile.  "You have my permission, my blessing, and my full approval."  Luke placed a hand to his student's shoulder. "Now we just have to convince the Inner Council," Luke concluded with a smile.  

~

   Lara Dare Skywalker and Mara Jade had walked to the Coruscant med center in silence. Lara had taken Mara's noticeable lack of grumbling about being here as a pretty strong indication that her recovery from the dose of radiation she had received forty-eight hours ago was not yet complete. Lara wisely chose not to bring up the subject, insisting that her only reason for being here was to have a minor injury repaired, and as soon as Lara had seen Mara to her recovery suite Lara walked back toward the treatment area to see about having that injury repaired.

   With every corner she turned, it seemed someone was looking curiously in her direction.  That added attention was a little unnerving to Lara.  She had never intended to find herself in this spotlight, but between today's open Senate appearance and the many rumors that swirled around her, Luke, and Atamvr... there was a lot of curiosity.  Thus far Coruscant was keeping many of the details quiet, and Luke was happy to follow their lead, but in the face of so many unanswered questions, extra publicity suddenly became unavoidable.

   People were already curious about the attack on Coruscant. Add in the fact that a mysterious strike force had invaded the Palace, Lara was sporting a limp, scores of eye witnesses claimed to have seen a lightsaber duel on the platforms outside the Palace, and that renegade Force-user who had drawn so much attention with his attacks a few years back had never been caught.... Well, everybody had a theory, and most of them were completely outrageous. Lara found her way to the treatment area and quickly found a medic who had a few minutes to take a look at her leg.

   "It's nothing serious," she assured him, "just an inconvenience."  She wasn't entirely happy with having to repair the sort of injury that she was used to simply toughing out, but her limp had already drawn too much attention today and she didn't want a repeat of that situation in the days to come.

   The medic untied the bacta wrap and looked the cut over. "This won't take much to repair," he confirmed. "Just let me get a few things."

   Lara sat back on the exam table, thinking over the day's mixed results as she waited for the medic to return.  On the positive side, the Senate had listened to her. Her words had made a difference, and the Senate had seen the person before them as she was now, finally distanced from her shadowy past.  Lara had never stopped to wonder much about the public's perceptions; she was only grateful that perceptions were different than reality. Today, the identity of the speaker hadn't hurt the message, and that was all she cared about.  On the negative side, she knew that her and Luke's ability to keep their marriage out of the public eye was in danger of coming to an abrupt halt.  After having kept a low profile for the first several years of their marriage, it had only taken a couple of moments for their relationship to throughly capture the public imagination.  That wasn't what either of them had intended, but this turn of events had thrown them into the spotlight and they both knew it might be impossible to turn back.

   Lara looked toward the door as the medic reentered the room and got to work. He didn't ask any questions; he simply made the repair and gave her the usual battery of take-home pain suppressants and anti-infection agents that went along with that type of an injury.

   "Thank you," Lara offered gratefully as she stood.

   "A little better, I take it?" he joked, watching as his patient put weight on her leg.

   Lara nodded, enjoying the novelty of pain-free movement for the first time in a couple of days.

   "Whoever did the initial repair made my job easy.  It would have healed on its own under a bacta wrap given another week or so, but now you're as good as new."

   Lara thanked him again as she started toward the door, the medic a step behind her.

   "Hopefully we can get you back on the floor here soon, if the Senate is done with you, that is."

   Lara repressed a wince.  "Is it bad here?"

   "We've had a few beings pretty traumatized from the attack, but we're getting most of them healed up enough to go home now. And a good thing too," he admitted belatedly; "we've been starting to see some supply shortages since the traffic to and from the planet's been restricted due to the clean up."

   "Nothing serious, I hope?"

   "No. We're expecting a couple of relief shipments soon."

   "Good. I'll see if I can be here for a few hours tomorrow," she assured the medic, shaking his hand.

   "If you can, we could use you," he confirmed.

   Lara nodded and saw herself out, already feeling much better.  She was looking forward to coming back here tomorrow; she was grateful for the feeling of normalcy and useful service that she found here. It was, for her, a way to clear her mind and refocus her own energies according to her strengths.  And now that she no longer felt like a patient, the curiosity that she saw and felt from the beings around her seemed more restrained.  Everyone here had work to do; they had little time for idyl curiosity.  And she could walk the halls freely without having media reporters to contend with.  Like the Palace – with the exception of the Senate floor when Senate was in session – the Coruscant med center was a media-restricted area. The confidentiality of their services depended upon preserving their patients' privacy.

   Lara turned another corner, and had to stop short of running into a hurrying being.  She started to apologize to the man, and had already taken a step out of the way when their eyes met.

   "You," the man breathed in stunned horror.

   Lara's motion came to an abrupt stop, her voice frozen as she looked into his face.

   He had seen her face on dozens media viewers as he had made his way inside the medical center and delivered his cargo. His feelings had grown more tumultuous with each sighting. Seeing the images on the media viewers and hearing the analysts babble on incoherently on about how important her testimony had been and how fascinating a public figure she had become....  He had been anxious to get back to his ship where at least he would turn the coverage off.  Until today, he had hoped with all his strength never to see her again. 

   Lara suddenly found herself face to face with the past, in the middle of the Coruscant med center. The man's face flinched with remembered restraint, and, as if purely in reflex against it, he threw himself into action. Lara took a defensive stance in reflex of her own, but the motion ended prematurely.

   She didn't attempt to block him or restrain him. He caught her with a forearm and she allowed him the blow, rolling with it as the momentum of the impact swung her around.  Before she had turned back, the scene had become a melee.  Med security force had appeared out of nowhere, moving seamlessly into action and restraining the man by both arms.  Lara lifted her head just enough to take the scene in, and she slowly placed the back of her hand to the side of her eye, glancing to it as if checking for blood.  The stinging sensation was all that remained. 

   The man objected loudly, not so much to his being restrained but to Lara's lack of restraint. 

   "It's okay." She spoke up to stop the guards who were about to place him in binders. 

   She knew that the rules were purposely stringent toward any violence in the med center, for good reason, but if they charged him he'd be severely dealt with: a long term of incarceration at the least, perhaps permanent planetary restrictions.  "I don't want him brought up," she told them firmly. 

   "We have witnesses," one of the guards protested, "you can't just pretend it didn't happen."

   "You heard me," Lara insisted quietly.

   The man shook himself free of the guards' grip, and they reluctantly allowed it. He slowly stepped forward until he was face to face with Lara, making the guards very nervous, but, again, they allowed it. 

   "I lost three years because of you.  Dare," he grated her name, hatred in the remembrance.  "Longest three years of my life.  In Imperial detention."

   There was a murmur from the crowd that had gathered around them, and the man glanced around himself as if to point it out. Lara's eyes followed cautiously... these were people she knew, people who respected what she did within these walls. And she realized, as he just had, that they were ignorant to what she'd done before.

   Planet security arrived before either of them had time to consider the situation further.  They took the man into custody, and Lara went with them quietly, hoping to avoid a further scene.

~

   In the Senate Inner Council Chamber Luke had gathered a majority of the Council members and was working on convincing them to pursue a mission that would send the first of their newly commissioned military forces into the Myrtle system, to go after the major concentration of warlord powers and the person of Wanton Laus. Thus far they had been receptive to his idea.

   "We have the military capacity to take on a mission like the one you outline," Ackbar offered, the others listening very carefully to his opinion, "and I agree that the Myrtle system should be secured early on in this offensive.  But an undertaking of this kind will require strong leadership," Ackbar stated expectantly. Obviously, he assumed that for Luke to be pitching the idea, he at least had someone in mind.

   "Do you think the Senate would be willing to send a Jedi to Myrtle as the leader of this recovery mission?"

   "You mean to lead this force, Jedi Skywalker?" Ackbar questioned, surprise in his voice. Luke hadn't led an offensive like this one in years. Ackbar had come to assume that it was simply in conflict with his priorities as a Jedi Knight.

   Luke remained silent for a heartbeat.

   "I'd like to volunteer for this mission," Atamvr stated.

   Ackbar and Mon Mothma exchanged careful glances.

   "On your own?" Ackbar questioned when Luke said nothing further.

   "I won't let you down, Admiral," Atamvr stated firmly.

   "Atamvr is the leader you need," Luke added confidently. "He has my full support."

   "And mine as well," Leia seconded.

   Mon Mothma nodded in acknowledgment. She knew that neither of them would give a vote of confidence like that lightly, but many would be hesitant to trust this untested boy with such a responsibility.  But hadn't they all been young and untested once... back then youth and determination had been all they'd really had. 

   "We will consider it," Mon Mothma conceded, bringing the discussion to an easy conclusion.

   "There is something else," Ackbar stated.  "No matter its leader, before we send in this deployment there are questions we need to have answered.

   "What questions?" Han Solo asked.

   "We need to find out if there is truth to these rumors that a fleet is massing in Tritis, find out if there is danger to the New Republic.  We can't risk sending in a deployment to combat Laus and reclaim his territory, only to be ambushed by militant forces from the Tritis sector that could be lying in wait for us there."

   "This must be accomplished covertly," Mon Mothma said softly.  "Luke.  We want you to investigate Laus' activities in Tritis.  Track down his connections there, and return to us with that information."

   Luke hesitated.

   "Take what resources you need, Jedi Skywalker. Assemble your own team," Ackbar encouraged him. "Just let us know what we're facing out there."

   Luke nodded, his hesitation fading into a mix of determination and regret. "I will," he whispered.

   Han gave Leia a quick glance before he grinned at Luke.  "Count me in on this one, Kid.  Sounds just like old times."

   Luke snorted, amused.  "Right."  His comm beeped, and Luke pulled it from his pocket just as Leia and the others began to leave the Inner Council Chamber.

   "Allad?" Luke answered, surprised.

   "Luke. I'm in the security center down by med... and I think you should be here."

   Luke grinned in spite of the worry that he could hear in his friend's voice. "What's Mara done now? Don't tell me they called NRI because she's gone for another walk through an unauthorized hallway."

   "It's not Mara."

   Luke's grin vanished, and he turned away as he listened to Allad's voice, causing Han and Atamvr to exchange worried looks.   

   "I've got a civilian down here who started a fight in the med center; he's adamant that he wants to file charges against Lara Dare for war crimes committed under Imperial service."

   "Understood," Luke said a moment later.  "I'll be right there." 

~

   Luke released a heavy sigh as he placed his finger to the door pad.  When Lara had accompanied Mara back to med after the hearings today Luke had been relieved that she'd found an excuse to go there, and he'd been fairly certain that she would be in one of the few places on the planet where she wouldn't run into trouble. He certainly hadn't expected to be visiting her in a security center an hour later.

   Lara sat in one of the secure waiting rooms adjacent to the med center, a cold pack held to the side of her eye as she looked out at the city through a heavily reinforced window.  Her mind was at another place in time, her emotions numbed by what she remembered there. She heard the door open, felt Luke's presence as he stepped into the room behind her.  Lara lowered the pack as she turned to face him and smiled an uneasy reassurance.

   Luke stepped inside, his eyes never leaving Lara's as he walked toward her.  He didn't like what he saw there. Her gaze was cold, hollow; Luke had already felt that in her sense, things he hadn't seen in her for a long time....  He wanted to just walk across the room without a word, and hold her tightly enough to pull her back from that painful place; with everything in him Luke wanted that.  Instead he moved cautiously, pausing a couple of steps away from her.

   "Are you all right?" Luke felt himself ask slowly, cooly. 

   "Fine," she answered him softly, putting as much strength into her voice as she could muster.  "I'm fine." She tacked on a half smile that was intended to defuse his worry... another attempt at reassurance.  But her eyes moved away from his gaze, and they both felt the lacking truth underneath. 

   Luke stepped closer and reached a careful hand to her face.  His palm cupped her cheek and his thumb traced the edge of her cheekbone as he watched her worriedly.  Luke was worried for her, but he knew that his wife was strong enough to bear her burdens, at least he knew that she was under normal circumstances.  And he couldn't deny his worry for well-being of lives she carried, so completely dependent upon her.  At this early stage, they probably had no awareness of their mother's emotions, but Luke knew that those little lives would soon begin placing heavy demands upon their mother's body. She would need to be at her full strength for them

   She lifted her eyes to him slowly, and Luke saw her expression soften, letting up on herself a little... enough to feel his concern for her, but her eyes were still haunted. He watched her for a moment longer before carefully letting his hand slide away from her face.  He saw the familiar pain there. Luke didn't understand what had triggered this storm now, but he knew that there was a lot of pain still in her, much of it that she didn't want to face.  He let his hand fall back to his side and took a half step back from her, suppressing a sigh.  No matter how much he wanted to help her, there was nothing he could do until she was ready to face that pain.

   Lara overlooked his worry and ignored her own conflicted emotions in order to concentrate on the practical aspects of the mess she found herself in. 

   "How ugly is it out there?" she asked.

   Luke grimaced at the question. "Very," he answered her honestly.  "He's talking of bringing you up on war crimes."

   She nodded, feeling vaguely sick at the thought. The charges themselves couldn't be won, she knew; they'd been through that already.  Under all the rest, she had still been a conscript. Defying orders would have endangered her life, and she couldn't be held accountable for any action under direct or implied threat to her life.  Those were the conscript codes.

   He probably knew all that too, that the charges couldn't be won. But it was the bringing of them that would do the harm. Making the accusations would bring the ugly past into the present, and into the added spotlight that her identity would generate.  This would bring her and her dark past out of the relative anonymity she enjoyed, and place her at the center of a powerful storm. It would reopen the wounds of the Empire that were best left to heal, and it would jeopardize all of the progress that had been made since.

   Suddenly even her best intentions worked against her.  Myrtle, the good that she had stood up for today... it would be dragged down into this ugliness.  And her family... Luke... they would each take part of the blame simply for love and acceptance of her.  She had never felt such a weight of shame and despair as came over her in the awful possibility.

   Luke took a deep breath and touched her reassuringly.  "There's still a chance," he whispered, his voice fighting to keep hope against the desolate emotions that he felt filling her sense, "that he can be talked out of it."

   Lara winced and shook her head.  "I know that would be the best thing... for all of us," she considered softly, almost mournfully, "for all the chaos these accusations will bring...." Her voice lowered. "But he's on the right side, Luke. Why should he let it go? Why should he have to?"

   "Because this won't solve anything, Lara," Luke answered.  His argument was determined, though his voice sounded dejected.  "What he's threatening – it isn't about justice, it's nothing more than revenge."

   Lara grimaced. "That's all he has left," she whispered. "There isn't a way to make this right, and someone should be held responsible."

   "The Empire is responsible," Luke stated certainly.  "They built this machine. They made the rules, instating brutal force and demanding desensitization to it." He reached out to her again, determined. "On one level or another, everyone was a victim to that."

   The silence held for a handful of heartbeats.

   "Lara," Luke whispered.  "What do you know about this man? Why does he hate you enough to do this?"

   "He and a handful of others were captured under my force in a routine shipping raid, smuggling food and medical supplies for the Alliance. Naturally they all protested their innocence.  Their story was that they were being paid by an unknown source to drop a shipment at a set of coordinates which they would be supplied with once they entered a certain system. The story was likely true, except for the fact that they knew they were working with the Rebellion."

   Luke nodded. "We had to heavily guard the locations of our bases, and that was one trick we used with our suppliers – so they wouldn't know too much, in case they fell into Imperial hands."

   "This group was detained, held for interrogation.  After a few days the others were dismissed, and tracked. But one of them wasn't.  He had been piloting the ship, and if any of them had known the location of the Rebel base those supplies were bound for, he did." Her brow furrowed, and her voice became gruff as she remembered the facts. 

   "I took him to lock up; the second phase of his detention was an extended stay in solitary confinement. The whole way there he was begging and pleading with me, not knowing where he was being taken or what was going to happen to him.  He told me he didn't know anything, hadn't done anything, shouldn't have been there... had a family.

   "I couldn't get it out of my head, Luke, the thought of this desperate man appealing to me for help, for hope, for nothing more than a simple show of humanity... something that I couldn't show him."  Lara looked up to him.  "Do you remember when I told you," she asked softly, "that there was a day when I looked at what I had become, and I didn't recognize who I saw..." she trailed off, the memory suddenly becoming too uncomfortable. 

   "And you decided then, to try harder," he finished for her softly, gently, "to help where you could instead of just blocking it all out."

   Lara nodded. "He was that day.  My conscience tore me apart over his capture. He was on the right side, risking his life for the good of others, resisting the Empire in his own way... and I'd brought him in, signed his death warrant.

   "He was slated for execution.  To this day, I don't know if that was for real or just a part of the solitary scare." She shook her head, slowly.  "But I couldn't let it happen.  At the last moment, I changed the orders so that he would be transferred to a ship bound for Kessel. That was a normal sentence for smugglers and low-level dissidents, so I knew the move wouldn't raise any eyebrows, and I knew how to make the change discretely." Lara fell silent for a moment. "I knew I wasn't doing him any kind favor with that transfer, but I hoped the sentence was better than death. I took the chance that it might have been worse," she finished.

   "You risked your life to try to save his," Luke stated the truth, his voice solid and quiet.

   "It wasn't enough," Lara insisted quietly.

   "It was all you could do," Luke stated.

   Lara shook her head, her face flinching over the intolerable emotions that filled her.

   Luke touched her chin, gently lifting her face.  "You did everything you could to help him.  I know that."

   Lara shook her head hesitantly, tears in her eyes. "It wasn't enough, Luke."

   "It has to be," Luke whispered.  "No one can change the past, Lara."  

~

   The door slid shut behind Luke, and Allad quickly made his way over to the Jedi.

   "How's she holding up?" he asked softly.

   Allad had gone in to get Lara's statement just before he had contacted Luke. He had handed her a cold pack to put on her eye, and she had looked straight through him like they were perfect strangers. Allad hadn't taken it personally; he knew what it meant to be an Imperial conscript; he had lived through that hell, and for that reason he felt a kinship with Lara Dare. It had taken him years to let anybody get close to him after his defection.  He had always been certain that sooner or later the Empire would hunt him down... and when that happened, anyone foolish enough to be close to him would be destroyed. He had seen that same desolation in Lara's eyes today.

   "She'll be a lot better if I can convince this man not to bring charges against her," Luke answered.

   Allad didn't take the curtness in his friend's voice personally either.  He had seen that single-minded determination on Luke Skywalker's features a million times before, and he had learned not to underestimate it.  Allad never had let himself forget that Luke's compassion and his determination to do the right thing had once saved Allad's life.

   "This pilot, Franhkesca. Where is he now?" Luke asked.

   "In another room down the hall," Allad motioned in that direction, "filling out his complaint."

   Luke took a step in that direction, then pulled up short.  "Allad. There are some records in the old Imperial archives that I pulled and tagged a while back. I need to find them quickly."

   Allad nodded.  "Consider it done.  Have Artoo meet me in the archives with the specifics, and I'll send him back to you with the files."

   Luke smiled. "Thanks, Allad.  I owe you."

   "No you don't."  The man smiled and gave Luke an easy salute, then turned on his heel to leave.  He didn't have any idea what the Jedi had up his sleeve, but he hoped it would work.   

~

   A half hour later Luke entered another room. The one-time Rebel sympathizer sat alone with a data pad, diligently filling out a report.  Luke stood silently watching for a couple of heartbeats.  He could feel a determination in the man that barely masked the anger boiling underneath his calm demeanor.... The feel of that underlying anger reminded Luke to keep his concentration on his companion's emotions and ignore the volatility in his own.  Luke continued standing silently, though a part of him wanted nothing more than to walk across the room without a word and rough this guy up a bit, just enough to make him think about what he had done... just enough to made Luke feel better about the fact that this man had struck his wife.

   Then the man looked up from his report, realizing that he was no longer alone. His gaze settled on Luke, and suspicion quickly matched the surprise in his expression.

   "You won't change my mind," he spat before Luke Skywalker had a chance to speak or to even come any closer, "even if she is your wife," he finished harshly.  He had known that Skywalker had married a woman who had been an Imperial conscript, but until he had seen her face and heard her voice today, he had never fathomed.... What ever respect he had once felt for the Rebel hero turned Jedi Knight was severely tested by that unfathomable knowledge.

   Luke took a deep breath and calmed his emotions, letting go of his anger and the wish for reprisal.  He couldn't let himself entertain those thoughts, not even where his family was concerned, and further alienating this man would help no one. He was already suspicious of Luke, and Luke needed to win his trust, at least enough so that he would listen to what Luke had to say.  But before Luke could say anything the man had started in again, fresh venom in his voice.

   "And believe me, I don't know how you could care anything for her, much less marry her," he spat.  "If I was you, I'd be learning to sleep with my eyes open. That's what! Or you might wake up one morning to a blade sunk in your back.  That one'd be as likely to stab you through the heart as to look at you."

   Luke flinched in spite of himself at the harsh words, and the sincere belief that backed up harsher emotions behind them. 

   "Can I sit?" was all Luke asked.

   The man nodded reluctantly.  "I won't stop you." He had already said all that he thought needed to be said.

   "I understand why you're doing this," Luke confided, sitting, "but it can't help anyone," he added.

   "It'll help me," the man stated determinedly.  "At least people will know what I had to go through, what she's capable of."

   Luke considered that for a moment. "We're all capable of a lot of things, good and bad equally. And the Empire brought out a lot of bad – forced out a lot of bad."  He paused.  "I've got things I regret.  You probably do too. But neither of us did those things knowing that we would be executed if we didn't.  We had a choice.  The Empire didn't give that option, and their conscripts loved life just as much as we did."

   "You didn't see the ice in her eyes. All the while, I was begging her for help."

   Luke took another breath.

   "I don't know if this matters," he stated slowly, "I don't know how you'll feel to hear it.  But I know..." Luke stated quietly, honesty.  "If she had it to do over again, and from today, she would choose not to do those things. She's never said that to me, but I know," Luke admitted, his voice holding a sad shade of confession. "She would choose, not to live through the Empire. 

   "And that kills me," the Jedi finished quietly.  "Because I love her with all my heart." Then he stood and reached into his robes, producing a data card. "I know it wasn't enough.  It didn't save you pain and suffering, or separation from your family, but she wanted to help you."  Luke's eyes fell to the card in his hand, and he slid it onto the table beside the data pad. Then, with a final nod and a small smile, he turned to go.

   The man sat silently for a moment, undecided.  He watched the door slide shut behind Luke Skywalker, and he put the card into the pad. Transfer orders came up. The date he knew.  His status, as expected, was slated for execution. He'd come to assume that that was just an interrogation bluff, but the status reading suddenly changed from slated to transfer, and barely a minute before coming out of hyperspace for Kessel... taking him off the ship less than an hour before his slated execution time.

~

   "Did you change those orders to get me off the ship?"  Franhkesca stood in the doorway, reluctant even to enter the same room with the woman who sat watching him curiously. Lara Dare was surprised that he was asking, or at least that he was asking her.  Then she nodded, a slight motion that expected nothing of him in response. 

   "You saved my life then," he reasoned cautiously.

   She shook her head, looking down.  "I think, at best, it cancels me out, since I was the one who brought you in in the first place."

   He came the rest of the way inside the room, moving slowly, and he shook his head in disagreement.

   "Not to me.  Thank you."

   "Don't." She squeezed her eyes closed.  "Don't do that," she asked, and shook her head. "You owe me nothing.  Not even a thank you."  Her gaze lifted, and their eyes held for a moment before she spoke again. "I'm sorry for what you went through," she offered evenly. "I can't change that, any more than I can change the rest of those four years that I didn't live.  A person with no conscience lived in my place... and it wasn't living, any more than your detention was.

   "I know I don't have any right to ask anything of you," she stated cautiously, "but I hope," she added, her voice softening, "that no one else has to be hurt by this. You'd be justified in bringing the charges," she admitted.  "It would be justice, if I were held accountable. But the New Republic says that I was just a conscript, and that I couldn't be asked to chose between orders and certain death.  Back then, I would have understood that." She shook her head and looked away.  "Now I don't. It was always an even decision: my life or someone else's.  And I'm here, because chose my own. Every time, I chose my own," she barley whispered.  "For what ever justice is worth to you," she glanced up to him, "you can know that I live with that. 

   "Maybe I deserve worse," she concluded, lowering her eyes again. And she shook her head, sadly, unable to find an answer.  "But too many others will be hurt if you do this. It will expose me, and it will shame me," she stated, "but I'm already ashamed. The New Republic doesn't deserve that shame, for me." Her eyes lowered further, studying the floor under her feet. "My husband, his family, they doesn't deserve it," she finally managed.

   A long moment passed, and her heart thudded in her chest as she stared down at the floor, waiting for his decision.

   "I won't bring the charges," he said finally.

   Lara closed her eyes.  There was relief through the excruciating weight that had rested on her shoulders, and she nodded slightly, no other response that she could manage. After a long moment she gathered her emotions enough to lift her eyes and face him.

   "It's best," he added in explanation.  "Finished."

   Lara swallowed, not quiet able to imagine such a finality. "Thank you," she breathed tightly.

   He watched her for another moment, staring at her face as she looked away from him again.  He had seen her relief, and he realized that he had expected his decision to be more of a relief to her.  But her discomfort remained, and his gaze dropped as well, sharing that emotion.

   His eyes rested curiously for a moment on the cold pack that she had discarded to the floor. Looking for it, he could see something more substantial in her face: a slight shadow crossed her cheekbone, reddening the area around her eye.  

   He swallowed hard. "I'm sorry I struck you," he offered honestly.

   She suppressed a laugh; the resulting noise sounded more like a snort. "I've seen worse," she brushed off his apology lightly, though her voice was heavy and still.

   He shifted uncomfortably.  He saw something in her eyes as she glanced back to him... and he didn't doubt it.  Suddenly, unbelievably, he found himself sympathizing with this woman.

   "I haven't," he responded cautiously.  "I've only raised my hand to another being less than a handful of times in my life.  And none of those came close to the rage I felt when I took that swing at you.  It's something I hope to never feel again," he added more quietly.  And he slowly extended a hand to her. "Myles Franhkesca," he introduced himself.

   She nodded, shaking his hand.  "Lara Dare," she said softly.

   "Skywalker," he added quietly, after a moment more passed and she didn't make that distinction.  The slightly questioning lift to his eyebrows prodded at her curiously, and she nodded in careful response.  He could see a quiet pride in her eyes, through the understated acknowledgment was all she otherwise offered. She was still cautious, but not so much of him.  It seemed more like she was cautious of herself, wary of the harm that she could still cause.

   "I have no idea how he managed to find it," Franhkesca conceded, "but I would never have believed it if your husband hadn't given me this," he admitted.

   Lara looked at the data pad he produced, taking it from him cautiously.  She exhaled in surprise as she read it, then she looked down again. She fought a smile this time. 

   "Luke."  She shook her head. "I should have known," she admitted softly, through the smile that crossed her. It was the first time she had smiled, and the expression was clearly genuine, honest.  It suited her. 

   "Would you give him a message from me?" Franhkesca asked easily. "Tell him I was wrong? The things I said....  I see that."

   Her eyes narrowed a little as the smile slipped away, but she didn't ask.  She only nodded, agreeing to do what he asked.

   "Lara," he addressed her carefully.  "You aren't the person I wanted revenge on. I wanted the person in my memory, the one I spent years hating, because that was all I could do.  I remembered someone who was cold and unfeeling, ruthless.  The years only made her more so in my mind. But now," he shook his head, "I don't know if that person ever existed, at least not the way I envisioned her.  I think the person who captured my unit at Ord Tyrell was every bit as helpless against her circumstances then as I was, every bit as desperate for survival as I was during those three years on Kessel.

   "The person I so desperately hated – I don't think she's existed for a very long time, and I'm not willing to destroy your life as it is now for bitterness over the things that you clearly regret, probably more than anyone will ever know," he finished quietly. "The past is gone," his words broke into her emotions once more, "and those years are best left untouched."

   Lara only nodded fractionally, a chill coming over her.  There was nothing that she could say. She had hardly believed that he would be willing to drop the charges; now he was essentially forgiving her.  She swallowed hard, and held back a wince. It was too much....  She knew that he was right to do it; the past had to be let go. But she could not imagine it, any more than she could fathom this forgiveness that she did not deserve.

~

   Luke and Lara made their way home a short time later.  All charges stemming from the events of the evening had been dropped, and Allad, on behalf of NRI, had given everyone involved strict instructions to treat this incident as though it had never happened.  Everyone present had agreed.  Lara wished it really was that easy.... She gave Luke a nod as they stepped inside and she pealed off to make her way down the hall and into the bedroom.  Luke smiled in response and watched her go.

   He had been keeping a close eye on her during all this, but neither of them had spoken further about what had happened once they left the security center.  Luke watched her slip through the bedroom door before he made his way into the kitchenette, his senses remaining extended.  The suite was quiet, and that was unusual; it was still light outside, but just barely. The twins were at their cousins' tonight for a sleep over.  The parents had considered postponing it after everything that had happened over the last few days, but the children were looking forward to their fun; Luke knew it had been the highlight of the twins' week.

   Luke rummaged through the kitchen cabinets and began making some sandwiches; neither of them had eaten since a break in the Senate hearing early this afternoon, and he was starving. He had almost finished with that task when he heard the shower running.  Lara's emotions were still troubled, but she was all right; she just needed some time to herself to process all this. Knowing that she would be a while, he put the food aside and walked into the living room to check the comm console for messages. There were several: friends wanting to congratulate them on the hearings, and from those who had not been watching from the Senate Chambers there were warnings cautioning them about the media coverage of the event. Luke sighed and flipped on the comm console's vid unit to check it out for himself.

   News broadcasts were all discussing the hearings, but their coverages were captioned by freeze frame images of him and Lara sitting together, watching the proceedings. Luke straightened and stood with his arms crossed, legs in a wide stance, pulling thoughtfully on his lip as he watched a few minutes of the coverage.  The media spectacle was ridiculous, but the talk was substantive, serious, and positive.  He hoped that the spectacle would soon wear out, leaving only the day's message.

   Luke flipped off the vid unit and returned to the kitchenette. He made two cups of hot chocolate to go with the sandwiches and walked to bedroom.  Lara had sat down on edge of bed; she looked exhausted. Luke set the tray of food on the bedside table and sat beside her, handing her one of the chocolates. 

   "That's good," she breathed as she took a sip and leaned against his side.

   Luke smiled and slid his arm around her. Lara felt the protective tone to his emotions, and it made her smile. Luke had insisted on getting her a healing compress before they had left the med center. She had known that it was a smart move; after all the attention a slight limp had drawn, she hated to imagine walking around with a bruise under her eye.... But Lara had known his insistence wasn't entirely practical, and she had humored him without making an issue of it, mostly because she could see that it bothered him.  Neither of them were strangers to combat or to injury, but an unprovoked act of violence, and a cheap shot... that was hard for him to stomach.  Lara had felt that in his emotions. And she knew that Luke had had a hard time sitting peaceably in the same room with the man who had struck his wife, and forcing himself to remember that that man also held her future in his hand.

   If Luke hadn't kept his cool and convinced Franhkesca not to bring those charges.... Lara shivered, and she pushed those thoughts aside as her husband kissed her temple and tightened his arm around her shoulders. They both sat drinking their chocolates, and Lara leaned gratefully against his side, enjoying the feel of his protection.

~

   It was the middle of the night on Coruscant. Several minutes had passed while Luke lay on his back watching the city lights play off the wall and ceiling, unable to fall back asleep.  He rolled over onto his side, cupping his hand against Lara's forehead for a moment. She made a small noise in her sleep but continued sleeping peacefully. Luke smiled. Reassured that his restlessness wouldn't disturb her, he pushed the last of his own sleep-deprived weariness away and eased out from under the covers.  Nothing else to do, and wanting some task, any task, to keep him busy, Luke carried the dirty cups and sandwich tray back into the kitchenette and set to cleaning them up. Luke had never been one to shy away from manual labor, no matter what it was, and his Aunt Beru had taught him a long time ago the importance of helping out around the kitchen.

   Luke sighed, pausing in the motion of drying off one of the cups.  He seldom thought about Tatooine, his aunt and uncle... but when he did it was with a much deeper appreciation of what they had done for him. Now that he had his own children, he realized all the more how difficult it must have been for Owen and Beru Lars to raise someone else's child... and love him as their own son. Luke's troubled family history and the weird talents and feelings that he was always experiencing couldn't have made that decision any easier for them.  They must have struggled, wondering how they could keep him from harm, how they could keep him from following in his father's footsteps... but they had hidden those struggles well.  Luke had never once imagined that they regretted anything about their choice to raise him, and though he had often been too young and headstrong to appreciate their sacrifices, they had given him everything they had... and that had shaped his ideals of love and family perhaps more than anything else in his life. He caught himself hoping that wherever they were now, they were afforded an occasional view his family; he knew they would be proud of their grand nephews, and hopefully of him. Luke smiled, putting the dry cup aside, and brought his thoughts back to the present.

   His trouble sleeping had nothing to do with his worries for the New Republic.  It didn't concern Laus or the mission that Luke had accepted today... though those events all played a factor in the background of his restless thoughts.  A few hours ago as they had walked home, Luke had reluctantly told Lara about the conversation he had had with the Senate Inner Council and the mission that he had accepted as a result. He would have liked to have waited, to not have had to burden her with that knowledge before she could even get a good night's rest, but Luke knew that there was little time. Preparations would need to be made quickly, and Luke wasn't willing to risk having her hear it from someone else before he could tell her that he would be leaving soon.

   "How soon," she had asked. He had felt the jolt of surprise in her emotions. 

   Luke had shrugged. "It will take a little time to get things in order, but not long.  I'll likely leave within the week."

   That memory was abruptly cut short as Luke took a step back and stumbled, catching his head with his hand as he regained his bearings; he sensed enormous pain. He reached out to the Force, searching for its source while he also steadied himself.

   "Lara," Luke whispered.  He reached out to her mind, trying to touch his wife's presence in the Force with comforting emotions, but he had difficulty feeling her in the Force.  Luke didn't have any memory of how he got from the kitchenette to the bedroom, he only knew that the peaceful sleep he had left her in a short while ago was gone now.  Her arms folded around each side of her head, as if shielding herself from attack, or attempting to block out the pain.  Her body was curled into a tight ball, betraying her helplessness against the enormous pain and turmoil she was experiencing.

   Luke reached out to her mind more determinedly, and he was met with another flash of overwhelming emotion. It felt as if she was lost in the torrent of emotion she was experiencing, but very little of that emotion was her own; that was why Luke had difficulty feeling her sense. He had never felt anything like it, and he didn't let himself think about it anymore.  Luke simply covered her body with his own and held her tight, trying to take as much of the onslaught on himself as he could.

   The storm raged around the two of them for many moments... the pain of countless tortures, detentions, interrogations, and debriefings. The terrible hopelessness of those imprisoned to Empire gave way to anger and murderous rage that boiled over against their captors, and the eerie feel of emptiness was all that remained when all of that agony was finally silenced by death.  Lara still remembered their faces, the sound of their voices. Franhkesca and countless others like him.... People whom she couldn't do anything to help... agony, suffering, and injustice that she had had to turn her back on in order to survive. 

   Luke shuddered in its wake.  He sensed Lara's confusion, and he felt his heart twist in agony when she lifted her eyes to him.  He had only seen that look once before, on the approach to Alderaan, in Ben Kenobi's eyes. How many had there been, over years aboard a ship like the Executor?  Taken from hundreds of worlds as prisoners and conscripts, lives forfeit to the Empire... had there been a thousand, a hundred thousand, enough to populate a small planet? It was impossible to calculate the cost in damaged and destroyed lives. Luke only knew he hadn't expected the sadness that he saw now in his wife's shell-shocked gaze. Gently, he pulled her close to him again, lifting his chin so that he could hold her cheek against his neck.

   "I don't understand," Lara whispered.  She sounded defeated and confused, and frustrated by both of those emotions.  "I – I thought I was finally past this."  Lara hadn't let herself think of those things in years. It had haunted her after the Empire... once the Emperor and Vader were dead, and she could begin to let down her defenses, she had seen the faces, heard the screams in her sleep.  But even then she had blocked out the worst of it....  She had needed to keep all her focus on outmaneuvering Mara Jade so that she could keep Luke Skywalker alive.  That had been easy compared to the rest of what she had done.... It had been easy to let the goodness she had seen and felt in him inspire her, and the weight of her darkness had lifted. Even living in the depths of the fringes, surviving in the shadows, her life had felt hopeful for the first time in long time. Her life had been her own for the first time in a very long time, with no fear and no regret, simply a mission that she believed in.

   Lara dipped her head further against the protection of Luke's embrace and tried to fight back the tears. She had believed that she could make a difference if she just kept moving forward. She had refused to let herself look back to where her life had not been her own and she had been nothing more than another tool that Vader and the Emperor could use against those who opposed them.

   Her voice trembled when she spoke again. "I don't want to go back there, Luke."

   "I know, Sweetness," he murmured in her ear. Luke wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, letting her shed the tears that needed to be released.  "But there's a difference between knowing the worst you're capable of, and being a hostage to it."

   His fingertips curled to stroke at her temple as she lay quiet against him.  The tears were gone, but he could feel the furrow of her brow under his hand as she rested uneasily in his arms. Luke, of all people, understood the conflict she was feeling, trying to come to terms not only with the past, but also with a chilling newfound awareness of the enormous harm that she was still capable of, especially to the people who loved her most.

   Luke's hand found its way into hers and Lara squeezed his fingers tightly, grateful that she wasn't alone. Lara shuddered in spite of herself.  She wasn't alone; all of a sudden that thought was no longer a comfort. Of all the things she desperately regretted... what had he seen in her mind, her memory?

   "Luke–" she breathed, her voice suddenly filled with frightened urgency.  

   Luke pulled a little closer, lifted her face to look into her eyes.  "I love you," he spoke to the fear deep in her heart.  "Lara, I know who you are," he breathed, his eyes sparkling.  "I've felt it in your arms, seen it in your eyes and in your smile. Nothing changes that," he breathed, a smile breaking into his voice.

   He was so calm, so certain.  Lara stared at him, her caution holding out for a few more seconds before she closed her eyes and held on to him tightly.

   "I love you, Luke, with all my heart," she whispered against him.  "But there's so much I've never told you... in all those awful years."  Her voice broke, trembling over the confession.

   "I don't need to know those things," he whispered gently.  "They don't matter to me."

   "But I can't let them go," she whispered, burying her head further against his chest. 

   Luke could feel the heavy weight resting upon her. No matter how he wished he could ease it, suddenly it seemed there was very little he could do to help her any longer. Instinctively, he calmed his emotions, and he felt the touch of the Force.

   "Sometimes we can't move forward until we can accept the past. Sometimes the future and the past are intertwined in ways we can't understand, and as long as the past has hold over us... that uncertainty and that fear....  Lara," he breathed. Luke felt a gentle but insistent nudge at the back of his mind. 

   He started to tell her... but then he paused.  A smile slowly crossed him as he stroked her forehead.  She had already fallen asleep. Luke touched his lips to her forehead.

   "I love you, Lara," he whispered instead.  He held her in his arms and let her sleep, once more safe and belonging to him.  Selfishly, he wanted to hold on to that feeling.  For just a few more moments he could imagine that the pain that held her hostage was gone for longer than the kindness of sleep could provide reprieve.  He took a deep breath and tried to push the harshness of the truth away.  Luke knew there wouldn't be peace until they could both come to terms with the past, until he could be honest with her, honest with himself.... His hand floated over her arm and came to rest protectively over her mid section.

   "Don't you worry, little ones," Luke whispered.  "Your mom and I will figure this out, and we'll always take good care of the two of you." Luke sighed, tilted his head back against his pillow, and closed his eyes, alone in the night with his own sleeplessness.

~

   Over the next few days life began to return to normal. Coruscant recovered slowly and so did Mara Jade, though her recovery was proceeding too slowly for her liking.  The medics had initially predicted she'd be back on her feet within forty-eight hours, but that had been before she had taken several unscheduled walks through the halls and missed a whole day of treatment due to the Senate hearings. 

   In an attempt to better manage her condition through the interruptions in her treatment, they had switched her from a constant rate infusion to several concentrated doses per day.  They had gotten the degenerative effects of the radiation exposure under control fairly quickly; now it was simply a matter healing the damaged cells, and that would take time. Mara shoved back the covers. Time was something she didn't have the luxury of. Talon Karrde was making preparations to leave the planet.  He expected the repairs on the Wild Karrde to be completed within another day or two, and Mara Jade was anxious to rejoin her boss when he left the planet.

   "Mara, don't you dare," Karrde warned her as her feet hit the floor.

   "Come on, there's no need for me to be here," Mara argued. "I can rest just as easily aboard the Fire – making sure that it's ready to fly by the time the repairs are finished on the Karrde."

   Karrde shook his head; he wasn't buying it.  "Skywalker has the New Republic's best people working on the Karrde and on the Fire.  Having you there getting in their way is a distraction that none of you need.  Mara, stay here and concentrate on yourself.  That's an order.  I need you back in one piece."

   Mara nodded and reluctantly pulled her feet back under the covers. "Fine," she grumbled.  "Maybe I'll work on that healing meditation Atamvr was talking about... see if I can speed things up a bit."

   Karrde nodded uncertainly. That wasn't exactly resting, but it was probably the best he would get out of Mara.

   "What else is going on around here?" she questioned.

   "Lara had a little excitement after she left you the other day.  Apparently she ran into an old enemy; the guy got in a cheap shot before security could get him into custody."

   "In med? I take it he's still in a holding cell somewhere."

   "That's where things get interesting.  Seems this guy still had a chip on his shoulder for Lara because of some time he'd done on Kessel; he started making noise about wanting to press charges against her for that."

   Mara raised her eyebrows.

   "Allad called Luke, and Luke managed to talk some sense into him, get the charges dropped before they were filed."

   "How did Allad get pulled into all this?"

   "Coruscant security notified him that one of his people was facing charges."

   "But she's all clear now?"

   Karrde nodded. "From what I hear she's a bit shaken up by the whole thing, but NRI's keeping it quiet. It'll pass."

   "I hope so," Mara breathed.  "I remember the first time she was investigated; it wasn't pretty, and she's got a lot more to lose now."

   Karrde was just about to tell her that he didn't see Luke letting anybody get away with taking cheap shots at his wife, when his comm beeped. After a moment's discussion with Chin, Karrde pocketed the device and hesitantly turned his attention back to Mara.

   "I know, you've got things to do," Mara chided him impatiently.  "Just remember, I'm going with you when you blast out of here."

   Karrde grinned at her. "Agreed, but until then–"

   "I'll stay here," she assured him sourly.

   "Thank you," Karrde stated triumphantly, and a few moments later he made his exit.

   Mara cleared her mind and settled into meditation just as Luke had taught her. Reaching out to the Force she let her immediate surroundings sink into the background and concentrated on feeling the Force's energy.  From there she began trying to heal herself, first seeking out the small differences between healthy and unhealthy cells and then using the Force's energy to aid in the regeneration of those damaged cells.

   The process was very tricky. Mara relaxed her mind further and tried to allow the Force to completely guide her efforts, but her mind's eye filled with other images, unexpected scenes from times long ago.  Her first instinct was to pull away and refocus on her intended goal, but something deep in her mind insisted that this was important. Mara felt the Force's pull, and she responded, releasing her frustrations and relaxing her mind... letting go her conscious self and allowing the Force to lead her.

   Mara Jade stood silently, waiting at her Master's side.  She could feel the turmoil in his thoughts as clearly as if they were her own. He had been furious with Vader's failure.  Now he was beginning to wonder if that failure could be part of a wider betrayal....

   The girl flanked Vader, as ordered, when he returned to the Emperor's audience chamber within the Palace.  There was no trace of fear in her emotions, no uncertainty, and no intimidation in her step.  For a conscript, and a girl of about seventeen who found herself standing before the Emperor, himself, that was unusual to say the least.  She walked past the royal guards who lined the Emperor's chamber, and Mara felt their awareness heighten as they watched the unknown visitor closely from behind their scarlet masks; the Emperor's guard understood, as did his Hand, that danger wasn't always obvious to sight.  Those who posed the most danger often hid their intentions well, and appeared harmless... then, when they acted, they became fatal.

   Vader entered the room slowly and the conscript trailed him by the length of a footstep. The whole of her attention, wisely, remained focused upon the Emperor.  And when Vader came to a halt she knelt at his side before Emperor Palpatine.

   "Conscript Dare," his voice grated a greeting, dripping in condescension.

   "I am your servant, my Emperor."

   "Rise."  He commanded her. "The Force is with you, my young conscript."

   The girl instinctively cleared her mind as the Emperor's gaze cut through her.

   "Your potential is large indeed. She will be an asset to you, Lord Vader."

   "As I am to you, my Master."

   "Of course."

   "Guards. Show our young conscript to her quarters.  Then leave us.  Lord Vader and I still have much to discuss...."

   Mara had watched members of the red guard accompany Lara Dare from the room. She had remained in the shadows while her master and Lord Vader continued their discussion of the Death Star's destruction and the rebel's victory at Yavin.

   Vader vowed to correct both, and the Emperor commanded him to personally see to it that the rebels were hunted down and destroyed. 

   Mara only stepped forward after Vader had exited. 

   "It seems," her Master had stated slowly, "that Lord Vader may be preoccupied with matters of the Force. First, this conscript he has found to be his second. And now, a rebel pilot."

   He fell silent.  "The rebel does not concern me," he decided.  "In time they will all be crushed." Then he continued on, more thoughtfully, as he turned his penetrating gaze toward Mara. "The Force requires guidance for growth."  He grated the assessment as he affixed his glowing yellow eyes on his Hand, Mara Jade. "We, must be sure to regulate that growth."

   Mara had done just that. Over the next few years she had carefully tracked Lara's progress, and always reported back to the Emperor. With each new report of Lara Dare's growing skill, however, there seemed to come a parallel in the maddening military success of the Rebel Alliance. And the young Commander, Luke Skywalker, who was quickly becoming one of its most respected leaders, always seemed to play a part.

   The name came to light, and the Emperor's concern grew.  His visions clearly foresaw a growing threat, but he could not be certain if the danger he perceived was Lara Dare or the young Skywalker. Eventually he would confide to Mara that both of them might require elimination....  But Dare had played her role as Vader's second, completely loyal to the Empire, to the tee.  She had never allowed anyone to suspect she was more than that... but the Emperor had always suspected that there had been more to Vader's decision than simply taking on a second. And Mara had always sensed danger in her. 

   Mara's mind and abilities had been linked to the Emperor; that was the nature of her service to him, and her purpose. While Mara had had nothing but that purpose since she hd been a small child, this conscript had been taken from her home and family. Mara saw an intensity in her, a spark of independence that she both admired and feared, possibly because Emperor shared those feelings. A servant with a broken spirit was worthless, but a conscript with the hope for freedom was dangerous. Lara Dare had always been more than she appeared, like two sides of a coin.  Mara understood that. After the Emperor's death Mara had to reconcile the two sides of her life... almost like two separate lives: Mara Jade and the Emperor's Hand. It had taken years for her to balance out the two in her mind, to accept that she was more than the Hand of the Emperor... to accept.... 

   Mara opened her eyes, suddenly understanding what she was feeling in the Force.  Her feet hit the floor a second later.

~

   Two men stood in the doorway to the rec room, speaking quietly.

   "You've assembled your team?" Atamvr asked Luke.

   Luke nodded.

   "Then all the pieces are in place. NRI's ready with their people for the insertion."

   Luke kept his gaze on the room ahead of them, his emotions troubled.

   Atamvr glanced inside. Lara sat in a quiet corner of the rec room, her arms and legs folded into a loose, comfortable position, her body and mind relaxed as she reached out to the Force.

   "I just wish this didn't have to come now," Luke admitted.

   Lara sat quietly, reaching out to the Force. Inwardly she was seeking calm, searching for peaceful emotions.  It felt as though she was putting every ounce of her energy into the effort... but just when she could feel her focus beginning to settle into that peace.... It was no use. Lara sighed heavily, then reluctantly opened her eyes. The same emotions kept surfacing, intruding upon her attempts at meditation, making this attempt no more successful than any other.  

   Luke stood in the doorway of the rec room. And he suppressed a sigh of his own as he let the careful contact that he had been holding fall away.  It had been this way for her since the incident in med. The immediate crisis had been averted that day, but the experience had shaken her terribly.

   "I keep waiting for this to pass, expecting a breakthrough for her," Luke said, managing a slight shrug. "But her emotions are so clouded, she can't find enough peace through them to accomplish even a few moments of quiet meditation. I keep trying to push her forward... then I see how she's struggling, hurting over this, and all I can see is the person I love."  Luke shook his head.  "I never expected that teaching her would make me have to choose between being her husband...."

   "And teaching her," Atamvr finished.

   Luke nodded. "It seems I can't help her through this either way," he whispered.

   "I know Lara's having a hard time of it, but she'll find her way through," Atamvr assured his friend.

   "No–" Luke argued, then stopped. "I mean it's that, but not just that.  We weren't planning to make it known just yet; it's still very early... but Lara's pregnant."

   Atamvr smiled and clapped his friend's shoulder. His support helped lift Luke's mood a little.

   "Don't worry.  Han and I will get you back to her soon," Atamvr promised.

   That caused Luke to smile. "First we have to worry about you."

   "Me?"

   "I said something to the Inner Council a few days ago about having a Jedi to lead their recovery mission. I think I should make good on that promise sooner rather than later."

~

   Lara felt the gentle touch of Luke's mind. There was something that he had to take care of.

   Go ahead, she urged him. I'm going to stay here a little longer.

   Lara felt Luke and Atamvr leave, and she refocused herself on her meditations. But meditation continued to elude her, and when she next opened her eyes she was exhausted and alone. Lara stood, and her gaze fixed on a training remote across the room. She didn't stop to think.  In the next second she had activated the remote and pulled a training lightsaber to her grip. It ignited with a snap-hiss and Lara met the remote's attack with vigor, working out all the frustration that she couldn't keep in and didn't want to repress any longer.

   "Makes me wish I was at full strength." 

   The remote had just ended its cycle and powered itself down. Lara wheeled to look behind her, startled.  Mara Jade was standing in the doorway.  She stood tall, even though she was leaning one hand against the door to balance herself; her green eyes were as sharp as ever behind a ragged voice.

   Lara stared her down, out of breath and out of patience. Truthfully, she was embarrassed with the lack of control she was having over her emotions.  She couldn't meditate, she had rushed into a physical altercation with the remote, and Lara hadn't even sensed Mara's presence in the room with her. Mara seemed to sense her turmoil.

   "What were you fighting a minute ago?" Mara asked as she entered the room.

   Lara lowered her head. Her first instinct was to guard her emotions, but she was sick of running from the past.  Mara picked up on that too.

   "What are you running from Dare?" she asked quietly.

   "I thought I could atone.  I thought I could put the past behind me and start again... but I can't.  I'm still a threat to everything around me, and everyone I love. I can't change that. I can't shake the past," Lara confessed, "and I can't forget it."

   "Then the only thing left is to make your peace with it," Mara decided simply. "You have to accept that that life was not your life.  Accept the past, and that means accepting that there were things you had no control over. You had no choice."

   "I wasn't some brainwashed backwater kid who fell head first into the Imperial propaganda. I had a choice."

   Mara shook her head. "You had the illusion of choice. The Empire was good at that. You can follow orders, or die. Submit, or your family dies. That's not a choice, it's a threat, and an effective one."

   "The decision was still mine.  I have to live with the consequences."

   "You've got to be kidding me!  Stop being so blasted self-righteous, Lara Dare," Mara demanded.  "Why do think they made those codes? The rest of the universe realizes that you shouldn't have had to live through what we did, and you shouldn't have had to make the choices you did – because there was no right choice. Everything hurt somebody.  That was the way it was.  The Empire was hell to live through, on everyone who did, and if it was anyone other than yourself you'd be the first to say that it wasn't their fault.  So why don't you already?!"

   Lara blinked at her, numbly surprised at the unexpected barrage.

   "Do you forget it? Or forgive yourself, so easily?" she finally asked. 

   Mara snorted.  "What do you think I've done here?" she answered back, meeting Lara's challenge.  "Working and training for the last – seems like forever?!" she suddenly spat impatiently.  But her voice quickly returned to an intense calm. "Working to become a Jedi," she added with more genuine feeling, a trace of emotional depth that Lara had very rarely seen Mara willing to show.

   "I can't change what we lived through, what I did and what I was then. But I will control now.  I'll keep fighting to hold the darkness in myself at bay. And I will make my peace with the past because there's no other way to move forward.  Regardless of the past, the future, my future, will be mine to make."

~

   Later that evening there was a small gathering in the Tea Room, which was decorated in muted creams and browns on this day, as Luke prepared to pronounce Atamvr a Jedi Knight. The jubilant scene quieted as the announcement came that the ceremony was about to begin, and the air seemed to immediately fill with solemn wonder and expectation now that the time was at hand. Friends and dignitaries filed into that small room, deep inside Coruscant's Imperial Palace, anxious to witness an event that the galaxy had not beheld in decades.

   Luke began by formally presenting Atamvr to the gathering. The young man looked the same today as on any other day: the familiar brown robes of a Jedi overlaid the cream tunic and pants that he wore, and a lightsaber hug readily at his side.  The youthful expression of his face and his eyes were colored with calm, wisdom, and purposeful responsibility. 

   "But," Luke's voice differentiated strongly as he turned his attention away from the polite applause and back to Atamvr, "this day, you are no longer only a student." 

   Luke's eyes fell to the lightsaber in his own hand, the weapon that Atamvr, himself, had constructed.  And a feeling of great reverence welled within him as Luke ignited the blade and held the weapon aloft, letting its green light bathe the room in energy.

   Atamvr met his mentor's gaze, and he bowed down to one knee. He then removed his training lightsaber from his side and activated the weapon with a familiar snap-hiss, extending his own blade toward the floor in a salute, a show of respect to his master.

   Atamvr bowed his head as applause once more rippled through the small gathering. Luke let it die down without his acknowledgment, and he took a half step forward to place his hand on Atamvr's shoulder.  Atamvr felt the blade pass over him, and he retracted the blue energy blade that had been his defense, an extension – as Luke had once explained to him – of himself when he had needed for it to be. 

   He remained kneeling for a long moment, until the weapon Luke held was also retracted. Then Atamvr lifted his head slowly, and the two friends looked into each other's faces for a long moment, both remembering the journey. At times this destination had seemed far away, and each had lamented to himself the difficulty in its challenges, but they had pressed on. And they had succeeded.

   Atamvr rose to his feet, and he offered his weapon to Luke, an exchange of lightsabers: the student's for the Jedi's.  Luke nodded proudly, and turned to present Atamvr to the gathering for a second time.

   "I give you the Jedi Knight, Atamvr Luminas."

   Applause rang out more loudly than ever as both men accepted the jubilant moment of accolade.  Then the ceremony concluded into an informal reception, time to mingle with guests and accept the well-wishes of friends. 

   Luke stood quietly watching as Atamvr received his congratulations graciously. "Part of me still can't believe it," he finally said softly. "But I look at him, and I know he's ready." 

   Lara smiled. She could see her husband's pride in his former student, their friend, and she slipped her hand into his as Luke paused in that thought. 

   "He stopped being the boy that I wondered if I would be able to teach, a long time ago.  And he never gave up on this day. He did this," Luke said softly. 

   "You both did this," Lara whispered as she squeezed his fingers. "I knew you could, and I'm proud of you both for seeing it through."

   Luke squeezed her fingers gratefully in return.  He knew that his wife was still troubled by the past, and Luke was still worried about her, worried about having to leave her... but he could sense her strength and determination as she pushed her own worries aside to be here, standing at his side.

   "Atamvr."  Lara smiled and stepped forward to hug him when Atamvr made his way through the crowd, over to them. "I couldn't be any prouder," she offered honestly.

     One of the Senate officials was motioning for Luke's attention, and he smiled to Lara and Atamvr as he stepped away.

   "Thank you," Atamvr whispered, releasing her gingerly. "How are you?" he asked quietly.

   Lara nodded. "I'm all right."

   "Still feeling okay?"

   Lara gave him a suspicious look.

   "Luke told me this afternoon," he explained with a cautious smile. "Congratulations."

   Lara smiled back.  "Thank you. I'm feeling a bit tired tonight; I know it's coming," she grinned.

   "Any luck with the meditation today after we left?"

   She shook her head.  "I can't seem to find enough peace with myself for even a couple of minutes.  I can't keep the past separate from the present." 

   "Maybe you're fighting too hard. At some point you have to simply trust in your feelings and embrace the light."

   "Spoken like a true Jedi," Lara grinned teasingly.

   "You know, once Mara and I are gone, Luke will have an opening for another student."

   Lara smiled. "I don't think so."

   Atamvr watched her curiously.  Her outright refusal surprised him. "Why not?"

   "For starters," Lara smiled mischievously, taking Luke's arm as he returned to her side, "I'm looking forward to having my husband's undivided attention for a little while."

   Luke smiled down at her, and she enjoyed seeing his face flush slightly. She had caught him off guard with that little display of affection.

   "In that case, we'll have to make sure we keep this little trip of ours short," he kidded Atamvr.

   "I wouldn't mind that. Now that it's official..." Atamvr said carefully, watching as Lara's smile turned curious. "The Senate will soon be announcing a mission to target Laus at the center of his operations.  I volunteered for that first assignment into the Myrtle system, and they've accepted me to lead the mission," he added, working to balance his excitement and pride over the assignment with the proper degree of humility befitting a Jedi.

   Lara would have had to fight off a smile, for recognizing that, if she hadn't found herself a little speechless at the weight of his intention.

   "I'm honored by that," she conceded behind a careful smile.  "It feels right," she added confidently, "that you will be at the heart of an effort to reclaim my home system."

   "Once this trip is behind us he'll be off on his own," Luke noted with a smile.

   "You just be careful out there," Lara chided him playfully.  "Myrtle is a dangerous place."

   "The Senate doesn't exactly know it yet," Atamvr said softly, "but I'll be working in conjunction with Mara and Talon."

   Luke chuckled. "That may make it even more dangerous."

   Lara yawned through her smile, and despite the earliness of the hour Luke began the process of extracting them from the party.  Han joined them a few minutes later, speaking quietly with Luke and Atamvr about final preparations for tomorrow, and Luke waited while Lara went to say her goodbyes to Leia.

   "Luke," Atamvr called his friend back once Han had moved a few steps away.  "I know that there's something more going on."  His brow furrowed at the puzzling strength of the need he felt to say things that he didn't fully understand, and Atamvr struggled to speak an emotion that he didn't have knowledge to back up.  "There's something that you need to tell her," he tried to explain it, his eyes never leaving Lara.  "Don't let it wait too long, Luke," Atamvr advised worriedly.

   Luke only nodded numbly as Atamvr paused to place a hand to his shoulder.  Luke knew exactly what Atamvr was talking about.

~

   Nighttime on Coruscant was never really quiet, but it was steady.  It was reliable in its constant motion and peaceful in its predictability... that made the quiet that had befallen the planet over the last few days all the harder to tolerate. The city had slowed to a crawl as it slowly recovered, and tonight a low cloud cover had rolled in, obscuring the sky and the stars beyond. To Luke it felt as if everything were at a crossroads.

   "It's strange to see the city so quiet," Lara spoke his thought as they made their way home, and Luke felt her thoughts shift, worry and suspicion entering her emotions as she watched the sky.

   Luke knew Atamvr had been right; he couldn't let this wait too long, but it would have to wait a little longer.

   "What is it, Luke?" she whispered.

   He closed his eyes and released a tired sigh; his own thoughts were busy with all that he needed to say, but could not. 

   Her hand found his.  "You know you can tell me," she persisted gently.

   "I know," Luke whispered.  "It's not important, not tonight," he amended.

   "Are you sure?" she asked. "I know something has been bothering you, Love, and that worries me."

   "Don't worry, Sweetness," he asked gently, reassuringly. The past few days had brought so much strain on her... and now his leaving....

   "I'm all right, Luke," she assured him.  "Walk with me?" she asked of him a moment later, deciding to take him up on his challenge and put the worry aside for a night.  "Let's take the long way home.  I just want to enjoy having you by my side tonight," she whispered.

   Luke smiled and kissed the top of her head affectionately. He had been so focused on the weight of her tired emotions.  She seemed more tired every minute, and there was nothing else that was more important to him than taking care of her.  All the rest would wait.... But Luke felt himself smile at the warm feeling of comfort that he sensed in her emotions now; her voice was soft and sweet as she drew close to him threading her arm through his and letting her head rest lightly against his shoulder.

   "Okay," he whispered in response.

   They walked home slowly, watching night stretch out around them, and Luke couldn't help but be reminded of earlier days, and the friendship that they had formed out of necessity under Coruscant's city lights.  Despite all the deeper feelings that had come into his heart for this woman in the years since she had become his wife, the mother of his children... the strength of her friendship was still something that he very much relied on, something that he treasured.

   Once more he considered his own restless thoughts.

   "I love you, Lara," he whispered instead. 

~

   Luke awoke the next morning, slowly chasing sleep from his mind as he stretched sleep-stiffened muscles. By the time they had arrived home last night they had both felt exhausted. Luke had tucked Lara into bed, and he had rejoiced at feeling that tired weight finally fade from the background of her emotions.  He had slipped into bed beside her a few moments later, and fallen asleep almost immediately. That was the last thing he remembered until just a few seconds ago.  And it was the closest he had come to feeling truly at peace in a long while....

   Lara gave a muffled groan beside him, and Luke leaned over to touch her gently.  He knew that it was more than just the usual reluctance of waking; he could feel her struggling to keep the nausea at bay and control the unwanted aches and pains that marked the early signs of morning sickness.  Lara frowned, opening her eyes to him.

   "I want to go with you to the platforms. I should be there," she whispered.

   Luke kissed her softly.  "I'd rather you stay here and rest. Please," he whispered. "Promise me you'll take care of yourself. I'll worry over you otherwise," he said with a smile, which she returned.  They both knew that he would worry anyway.  Then Luke leaned down kissed her mid section twice, making Lara's smile widen.

   "You two take care of you mother," he whispered.

   Lara reached to smooth his hair. "I'll be okay, Luke. For you, I'll even promise to take it easy," she assured him.

   "I'll ask Leia to check in on you."

   Lara repressed the urge to argue that she didn't need to be checked on, and accepted to ease his worry.

   "I love you, Lara," he whispered.

   "I love you too, Luke. You be safe. Steer the shore."

   He kissed her again, and was slow to part from her lips. Her hands wove through his hair, causing him to sigh and dip his head against her neck. There was no more time.  They both knew he had to get moving now if he was going to get ready and make it to the platforms on time. 

   Lara kissed his cheek and lightly smoothed his hair where she had disordered it a moment earlier.  Luke pulled back from her and kissed her lips once more before he made his way to the refresher. Lara smiled and let him go reluctantly; she knew he didn't like leaving now, and she didn't want to make it any harder on him than it already was. They both knew it was necessary, but that didn't make it easier.

~

   There was a small gathering on the platforms a short time later. In addition to Luke's team, Mara Jade and Talon Karrde were also making their preparations to leave the planet. Lando Calrissian stood at Karrde's side, and Han and Chewie arrived on the scene in time to get in some ribbing on their old friend... and to try again to pinpoint his upcoming role in Karrde's new offensive.

   "Keep digging all you want, you two, my lips are sealed," Lando promised them with a laugh.

   Karrde only smiled, looking up briefly from his conversation with Atamvr.  Karrde and Atamvr had been making plans for the future.  Now the two men shook hands. 

   "Good luck," Atamvr offered.

   "See you in the Myrtle system," Karrde answered. Han headed Karrde off a moment later, still digging for information.

   Luke smiled as Atamvr shook his head and filed past him onto their transport ship. Then Luke bent down to hug his sister.

   "Don't worry," Leia whispered, picking up on her brother's emotions as she hugged him. "I'll look after Lara.  You just take care of yourself, and try to bring my husband back in one piece."

   Luke grinned.  He could also feel worry under her joke.  "I will, Leia.  I love you."

   "Master Luke, Captain Solo, oh, do be careful," C3PO advised as he shuffled over, following R2D2. 

   Luke smiled at the droid.  "We'll be all right, Threepio."

   R2D2 beeped readily and whirled around before heading toward the ship.

   "And you be careful as well, Artoo," Threepio called more quietly.

   "Enough with the long goodbyes.  Let's get this show lifted off already."

   Luke grinned, turning to face Mara Jade while Han and Leia said their goodbyes.

   She shrugged at her teacher. "I know; patience, right?"

   Skywalker shrugged in return.  "I told you before, you have to follow your own path. May the Force be with you, Mara."

   Her response was simple, and typically straight to the point.  "We'll finish this," Mara Jade stated certainly. ~@ ~ ~