The Galactic Empire has come into its might and reigns supreme over the galaxy. The Emperor's ships and armies are numberless, and beyond them lurks the ineffable power of the Sith. All opposition has been smothered beneath tyranny and fear. There will be resistance, there will be rebellion, but four years after the fall of the Jedi there is no hope. The two will return together.

"You're nervous."

Mara snorted, but her reaction was enough to prove Luke's point. The two of them were in an empty office in the government complexes of Coruscant, no it was Imperial Center again, staring at a grey monolith.

"I'm not saying that breaking into Ubiqtorate headquarters is easy and that you shouldn't be concerned but if I can feel-"

"Don't worry about it." Mara turned away from the window to see Luke sitting at the desk resting his chin on his joined hands. "We're going to go in, get her, and get out. No muss, no fuss."

Luke smoothly rose to his feet, his hands moving to check the holster at the small of his back and the pocket holding his light saber. "I've thought that before."

"Well unlike you, I don't always wing it. Just stick to the plan." She strode past him and out into the labyrinthine corridors. Luke fell into position next to her, his stolen uniform showing him to be a star fighter colonel who wouldn't look out of place with the bureaucratic nonentity she was dressed as. The combination worked on several levels, in more martial areas she'd be seen as his visitor, and in the civil sectors she'd provide his excuse.

Mara punched the button to summon the lift and resisted the urge to pull out her sliced orders. The holes in security she'd been trained to exploit still existed and with the priority she'd claimed no one should question her. Luke was quiet as they waited, and silent as they descended, stopping only for others to board and exit. Eventually they reached the lobby and strode for the exit purposefully.

The nerve center of imperial intelligence was surrounded by half a kilometer of paved stone and the wind whipped across it. She glanced at Luke, making sure that his dark jacket wasn't betraying the presence of his weapons in the stiff breeze.

"Relax."

This time she only raised an eyebrow, enough to stop him from saying anymore. They'd been able to go over the office they'd been in for bugs, but Mara didn't trust the spies to not have monitors transcribing the words of everyone approaching the building.

In any case, they reached the doors without further incident. The sudden absence of the wind made the building's silence oppressive, like a tomb. Luke gave her another meaningful look that she ignored.

"Brianna Cenasca and guest." The functionary at the scanner took her proffered pass and inserted into his computer. His helmet prevented them from seeing his face, but Mara couldn't feel anything but boredom.

His emotion didn't change as the machine beeped and ejected her orders. "You're good to go Ms. Cenasca, and sir I'll need to see identification before you go through." Mara walked through the scanner without waiting as Luke handed the guard his ID. There was a flicker of attention from the man that quickly vanished as Luke handed over his blaster before the Jedi followed her in.

They both entered the main building, this time with Luke slightly behind her. Mara couldn't help but relax a little as they walked through the dark and quiet corridors. This and places like it had been her home and hunting ground for years, searching out treason for the Emperor.

Without pausing they passed a guard station, their images clearly matched what he expected and she heard Luke let out a small breath. She didn't, now that they were on mission she wouldn't let herself show weakness, but she sympathized. They'd just reached the last point where their sliced orders would justify their presence, and from now on they had only their skills, her knives, his light saber, and her exhaustive knowledge of the building and Imperial protocol to guide them. Plenty.

The elevator opened to one of her long memorized override codes, ideally it would give them access to most floors as well as loop the cameras to hid their presence. Luke punched in the floor they needed using his mechanical hand to avoid leaving fingerprints. For a second she stared, it was so odd to see him without his glove or synthskin, but for this mission he'd chosen to forgo both. The acceleration as the car shot upward brought her back, and she rolled her shoulders to release any tension.

With a cheery tone that was utterly out of place the elevator stopped as they reached their floor. Mara took the lead, walking down the long hallway as memories flooded her. She'd spent years living on the corridor, leaving for tutors and trainers and only returning to sleep. The doors were numbered just as she remembered, and part of her wanted to run her hands along them. All too soon they were at her old room and she paused. For once Luke didn't say anything, giving her time to recollect herself. After an unconscionable moment she bent down, ready to pick the first lock she'd ever cared about.

It was easy, almost too easy, and it barely took her a second. The door hissed open and dread filled the corridor, even as the force screamed in warning. Luke's grip on her shoulder was like iron as he yanked her back behind him, his unlit saber in his hand as they stared into her old dormitory.

Vader was there, and in a curious mirror her younger self was huddled behind him.

"I had doubted my master." Vader's low rumble overpowered the hissing of his respirator. "But I shouldn't underestimate him, nor the foolishness of Jedi."

He stepped forward and the two of them retreated, Luke stretching and shifting his shoulders in preparation.

"It will be a pleasure to kill you, or perhaps I'll let the girl do it." The Sith Lord exuded menace and darkness as he approached, but Luke had had enough. He straightened, not that it mattered much against the hulking cyborg, ignited his blade and held it in a low guard.

"You want to doom another to your fate?"

Vader's only reply was the snap hiss of his own blade and a sudden strike, shocking in its speed.

Luke met it, and for the first time on the planet dropped his shields as he gathered the force around him. The omnipresent darkness lifted, and Mara felt the terror that had filled the back of her mind with Vader's appearance vanish.

For a frozen instant the two duelists were stuck in place, then with a snarl Vader broke the deadlock. Their blades were arcs of light as they spun through the air, leaving gaps of spitting molten metal as they slashed through the walls. Neither seemed willing to give up ground as they hammered at each other, two masters releasing their full power at point blank range.

Shockingly Vader broke first, dodging back away from Luke's thrust. It was uncharacteristic but wise, Luke's smaller stature gave him an edge at the range they were dueling, nullifying Vader's reach even as the force negated his superior strength.

Whatever the reason Luke pressed his advantage, attempting to close again as he flicked testing strikes against his father. It was more aggressive than he'd ever been dueling her, and it took an embarrassing moment for her to realize why. She rushed forward past the smoking and sparking wires into her old room and found her younger self crouched against the wall.

She reached to grab her, only for her attempt to be deflected by an amateurish block. Silently cursing she swatted aside her defenses and with an effort of will forced her to fall asleep. Scooping up the three-year-old she threw her over her shoulder and darted back into the hallway.

Luke and Vader were still furiously battling, but Luke spared a glance to see that she'd retrieved their objective. He took a step back and seemed to center himself, adjusting his grip on his saber as Vader thundered forward.

The Jedi didn't willingly cede ground now that Mara had the girl, but he wasn't attacking with the ferocity he'd needed to drive Vader back. Another glance showed his strain, he was clearly hoping she had a plan.

"Stall!" She didn't need to see him to feel his exasperation as he drew even more deeply on the force.

Mara turned and ran, searching for a window as she fumbled for her beckon call. She had been sure that there was access to the outside just around the corner, but it must have been remodeled at some later point. There was the slightest tug from the force and she followed it, kicking open a door to reveal an open-air courtyard. Mara hammered the button that would summon her ship and reached out for Luke.

She didn't know how he could sense her, the force was raging as two of its strongest fought, but she could feel his acknowledgement before he returned his full focus to the battle.

The readout on the call was dropping rapidly as the Fire approached, but she knew the TIEs couldn't be far behind. As intent as she was on her ship she still noticed the other door to the courtyard opening and a knife was flying before the entrant could react.

The blood of her language tutor stained the ground as it drained from his torn throat. Mara forced down any regret as she palmed another knife, her younger self on her shoulder made it harder to draw them than she'd like.

Her beckon trilled as her ship came within one kilometer, she could hear the engines roaring as it swung towards them. Before she could call for Luke he was there, slipping aside from one of Vader's blows as he backed through the entrance.

He was drenched in sweat and his black coat had a long cut in it. Vader was similarly coated in greyish dust, but neither let that stop them as they continued to battle, both sensing that the end of their fight was near. Luke clearly wanted to use the open space the courtyard gave him, but he was once again restricted by having to stay between Mara and Vader.

The arrival of her ship was the signal for their finale, the two of them blurred, their blows ripping through the air as Mara ran to the controls, dropping her younger self carelessly on the deck.

Now Luke!

Her call reverberated through the force, and his answer was just as loud as he somehow- impossibly- battered Vader's saber out of position. Through the cockpit windows she saw him land a brutal kick to his father's chest before spinning and running. Mara hammered the repulsors, trusting that he could make the jump, and then he was aboard slamming the button to close the ramp.

She punched the sublight engines, accelerating straight up as she pulled up sensor feeds. The Home Fleet wasn't moving yet, but a fighter wing was vectoring towards them and was uncomfortably close.

Luke chose that moment to appear, his face was ashen and he barely had a grip on his saber but he still managed to pick up the girl and buckle her in before taking the copilot's seat.

"No muss, no fuss?"

She glanced over, and was relieved to see a mocking grin on his face. They might be back in time in a hostile galaxy ruled by a tyrannical empire, but at that moment it didn't matter. She'd saved herself from the Emperor, with that and Skywalker at her side the entire Imperial Navy could be against them and she wouldn't worry.

"Shut up, and start plotting our jump."

"Security is really lax compared to my first trip to Coruscant." Of course Skywalker would comment even as he was drenched in sweat and there was a slight tremor in his artificial hand that indicated his duel had taxed him more than he would like to admit. "We didn't even need fighter support to escape."

"Xizor is lucky that he died on his skyhook." The aftermath of that little incident had sent shockwaves through the security apparatus. "Vader was a mercy."

She immediately regretted saying the name, Luke's face went blank and his presence in the force was muted. The ship didn't need any attention while it was hyperspace, whatever had brought them here didn't seem likely to repeat, but by busying herself she gave Luke time and silence.

"He's not the man I last met, not yet at least." His voice was firm, outwardly without doubt, but if that was what he truly felt Mara would know. "He turned back to the light once, and he will again."

There wasn't anything she could say to that, so she simply leaned back and stretched. Craning her head back she caught a flash of red, and she was forced to confront the other awkward topic. Luke didn't let her ignore it, clearly wanting to change the subject.

"What do you plan to do with her? Thanks to my little display-"

"I know, we're on the radar." Mara had hoped to simply extract her younger self and then vanish into the galaxy. Luke's fight with Vader had ruined that. "We're changing names, dying our hair, irises, the works."

"This ship will have to go too, or at least it needs quite a lot of modification."

"We can't sell it." The words slipped out of her without conscious thought, and she had to scramble for a justification. "It's the most advanced ship running and it's-"

"Your home, right." Luke never seemed to realize how annoying his habit of saying exactly what people were thinking was, probably because most people were too intimidated to complain. His raised eyebrow suggested that he might know, and simply chose to do it anyway. "We need to change the hull shape and the thruster signature. I assume you have enough fake transponder codes that that's not a worry."

"Of course, and I've got EVA suits, we can just stop off a lane and get started on the modifications before we dock anywhere. It's a shame you didn't bring your droid so that it could do the welding." Luke grimaced, the loss of his droid, more than that the loss of everything he had in the future, was a raw wound.

"Do you have any thoughts on where can make port? I always had the luxury of Alliance bases or Han's encyclopedic knowledge of havens."

"And you think I'm any better? I had safe houses, the Navy, anywhere that Imperial power ran. Past that Karrde's network barely exists now, and smuggler's dens are all so transient that the ones I know probably don't exist."

"It needs to be somewhere quiet, normally I'd try to get lost in the shuffle but we're way too hot for that."

"Yeah, the Hutts won't dare obstruct Vader when he's this driven, they know that he hates them." Mara pulled up the navicomputer as she felt Luke's full attention move to her, it was almost burning in its sudden intensity.

"He hated the Hutts?" Of course Luke was curious about his father, it was easy to forget that she'd met the man far more than he had.

"All slavers really, the Emperor made him work with them just to demonstrate that he was in charge."

A sudden motion behind them cut them off before Luke could turn the conversation into a Vader biography. Spinning to meet her younger self's eyes she wasn't sure if she would have preferred that.

"The Emperor will come for me." No, she would definitely have preferred that.

"He won't." Luke's force presence suddenly filled the cockpit, to her it was warm but the young girl shrank in on herself. "We won't let him."

Her fear only lasted a second before she conquered it. "You can't scare me, you're nothing to him."

"What makes you say that?" Luke sounded more amused than anything.

"You're running from him."

"Well I'm a match for Vader."

"If you can't beat one of His servants-"

"It doesn't matter. You're not going back." Mara had had enough of the two arguing. "The Emperor doesn't care about you, and if he'll happily kill you just to hurt Luke or me."

They'd glanced at each other before, but this was the first time the girl was truly looking at her and Mara could feel her confusion. It was something that she knew well, the force telling her something impossible that she couldn't accept even as it hammered at her.

"Who are you?" She didn't answer, Mara knew herself, and that she'd never accept the truth from anyone else.

"Until further notice you're in our care and will follow our instructions. Don't try to escape, and don't try to contact anyone, we'll stop you."

She looked mutinous, and for the first time showed her age. She opened her mouth to protest but Luke raised a hand. There was a sense of impending, like the quiet before a thunderstorm, and then nothing, the little urges that the force gave were absent.

"He can't sense you now, and he won't hear you. You're stuck with us for now and might as well make the most of it."

"Think of it as a training exercise if nothing else." Mara had always liked the practical lessons, her first pseudo mission outside her quarters remained a cherished memory. Hopefully she'd be too overcome with the excitement to think about her circumstances.

"Alright." She caught a glimmer of amusement from Luke, the recalcitrance of her younger self seemed to entertain him. "Even though you stole-"

"Rescued," Kidnapped" Luke and Mara spoke over each other.

"I'll play along. But he'll come for me." With that she crossed her arms and went silent.