Chapter 7

As they approached the front entrance of the old Imperial Palace, they were greeted by some New Republic guards, who upon recognizing who they were, allowed them to pass. The continued into the palace, following Anakin as he led them through the vast maze of hallways until he stopped just outside a door at the end of a hall.

Anakin turned to the others. "Here we are. This is the archive room." He reached up to a panel on the wall to the right of the door and entered Vader's passcode, which opened it. They all walked into the high-ceilinged room, looking around at the equipment and vast amounts of holobooks located there.

Anakin looked for a computer counsel and went directly over to it to enter his passcode again…But this time it wasn't accepted. "Blast!" Anakin said as he tried entering it again, thinking perhaps he just entered it wrong. It still didn't work.

"What's wrong?" Padme asked as she came up beside him, putting her hand on his right arm and looking up at him with concern.

"It's not accepting my passcode." Anakin said with frustration. "The Emperor must have changed my security clearance just before he was killed." He turned to look down at Padme with concern. "He was starting to suspect that I was turning against him after I found out about Luke."

Padme looked down at the screen Anakin was looking at. "Try it again." She suggested.

"Why?" Anakin said with confusion. "I just tried it two times and it didn't let me in."

"Please, Anakin. Just try it one more time." Padme pleaded as the others looked on.

"Ok." Anakin sighed, turning back to look at the computer screen, and then tried entering his passcode again. But this time the computer beeped and different message, other than 'Access Denied' came up on the screen. Anakin looked at it with puzzlement and read it aloud. "Error. Must enter two Imperial Codes simultaneously to enter system."

He turned to look at Padme with confusion and then turned to look at the rest of his family. "This is new. Although, this would explain how I was able to get us in this room, but why my passcode isn't working to access the archive computer." He looked back down at Padme. "How did you know this message would come up on the third try?"

Padme looked up at him and blushed. "If I forget my passcode for my computer at the office, an additional error message comes up on the third try to tell me what I'm doing wrong." She sheepishly smiled at him. "Lucky guess."

Anakin shook his head, smiled and then kissed Padme on the forehead. "Well, thank you. I would have given up and then we wouldn't have ever found this out." He paused, looking around at the rest of his family. "But where do we find another person with Imperial code clearance at this hour?"

"How about Peitt?" Luke asked. "He's currently on Couresant."

"No. He didn't have high enough security clearance to access the reports we need to find." Anakin responded.

"What about Mara Jade?" Han suggested. "Wasn't she the 'Emperor's Hand' or something like that?"

Everyone looked at Han like he was a genius. "She's perfect, Han. But is she on Couresant?" Anakin asked.

"Yes, I just spoke with her and Karrde before coming to your place tonight." Han responded as he shifted his weight from one leg to the other, putting his right hand on his hip. "Do you want me to try calling her?"

"Yes, definitely." Anakin said.

"Wait! Anakin…" Padme started as she looked up at her husband with concern. "Didn't you tell me she almost killed you and Luke at Mt. Tantiss? Can she be trusted?"

"Yes. She can be trusted. She also helped save our lives, remember?" Anakin reminded her.

"Yes she did, Mother." Luke added as he came closer to where his parents were standing.

"Ok, then. I'll call her." Han said as he approached the comm to the right of the computer council. He tried turning it on but nothing was happening. "Hey this won't work either. It says it needs some sort of passcode too."

"Here…let me try mine." Anakin said as walked over to the computer keyboard and started entering his passcode again. This time it did accept it. "There…go ahead and call her."

Han started pushing buttons until the familiar sound of Mara Jade's voice came over the comm link's speakers. "This is Mara Jade."

"Hey Mara. It's Han Solo." He said while leaning over the microphone with both hands on the counsel.

"Han, I didn't expect to hear from you so soon after running into you earlier today." Mara said. "What's going on?"

"Well…we have a little bit of a problem that we need help with." He looked up at Anakin. "Do you want to ask her, Anakin?"

"Is that Anakin Skywalker with you?" Mara asked hearing Han's question.

"Yes, the whole family is here and Lando and Chewie." Han said as he looked around the room and then realized that his Leia is missing. "Well…almost everyone."

"Mara." Anakin interjected as Han stepped away from the microphone. "We're at the Imperial Palace and need your Imperial passcode to get into some archive files we need. Would you be willing to help us?" Anakin waited for her response, but all they heard was static. "Mara, are you still there?"

"Yes…I'm here." She paused. "Why do you need my passcode, Anakin? Can't you just use Vader's?"

"I tried that…but the Emperor changed the archive computer's security protocol just before he was killed, so we now need to two high-ranking Imperial passcodes to access the files."

"Oh…I didn't know that." Mara answered with confusion. "Ok…anything to help. When do you need me to come there?"

Anakin looked back at his family and leaned on the counsel with both hands. "Now, if you can?"

"NOW! Why now?" Mara responded.

"I know it's rather short notice, but time is of the essence. The future of the galaxy depends on it." Anakin said with a concerned look on his face.

Mara sighed. "I'll be there within a half hour. Mara out."

Anakin turned off the comm link and turned to his family. "I guess I wasn't the only one that didn't know about this change." He stood in thought for a moment, putting his right hand up to his chin. "You know…this is probably why the New Republic didn't contact me when they couldn't access the files. They, too, found out they would need two high-ranking Imperial passcodes; and probably didn't know where to find someone high enough in the Imperial ranks that would be willing to help them."

"That makes sense, Father." Luke said to him. "And, at the time, they didn't know that Mara Jade was the 'Emperor's Hand'".

"True." Anakin replied with a smile.

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The Wild Karrde - Couresant

Mara Jade turned off her comm link. She was wearing a dark green tunic, and pulled her red hair back into a ponytail. She quickly looked at herself in the mirror to make sure her hair looked alright before leaving her sleeping quarters on the Wild Karrde. She couldn't believe that the Skywalker family had accepted her so whole-heartedly after what she almost did at Mt. Tantiss. Almost three years ago, she almost killed both Anakin and Luke Skywalker. But, of course, Anakin had been Darth Vader, so if anyone understood the power of forgiveness it was him.

Since that dreadful time on Wayland, thankfully, she hadn't heard that evil voice in her head that almost drove her to madness. Thinking back…She knew it had to be Palpatine trying, through her, to exact his revenge on the Skywalkers for his death and the fall of the Empire. She just hoped that the voice didn't come back to haunt her now that she was going to be around the Skywalkers again.

Mara was also relieved that the Empire seemed to have disappeared off the face of the galaxy for the most part. Of course, there were occassional raids and attacks on different planets or on space freighters like the Wild Karrde. But they were more like little squirmishs and nothing that showed the Empire to be a huge threat in the galaxy again. And I hope it stays that way.

Her comm call with Anakin Skywalker left her puzzled and curious. She wanted to know what was so important in the Imperial archives…that they would need the information tonight. Although, he did say the the future of the galaxy depended on it, so it must be urgent. But what?

Mara went over to the door of her quarters, turned off the light and then headed for the docking bay of the ship. She climbed into her speeder and headed for the Imperial Palace as fast as she could.

When she arrived, Anakin was waiting for her at the front door; and he smiled at her when she approached him. Even though he wasn't Vader anymore, he still had an imposing presense because of his sheer height. "Mara, glad you were able to make it here so quickly." He said as he held out his right hand to shake her hand.

Mara placed her hand in his and they shook hands. "Glad to be of some help. It's the least I can do after all the trouble I caused you and your family."

Anakin smiled at her. "It's all forgotten."

"Now what is so important that you need to access these files tonight?" She asked him as they walked down through the halls of the palace towards the archive room.

"Before Palpatine died, he was working on time travel experiements." He paused and turned to look at her. "Well…Thrawn has found the device the Emperor was working on and we believe he's going to use it to go back in time and change history in favor of the Empire."

Mara looked at him in awe. "How do you know this? And why didn't I know about this device?"

"I don't know why. But the only reason I know about it is because of the report I read on it." Anakin answered her. "As for how do I know what Thrawn is up to…well…through the Force, of course, and…well…we've had some unexpected visitors arrive from the past."

Mara looked at him like she didn't quite believe him. "Visitor's from the past?" She said as they arrived in front of the door to the archive room.

Anakin punched in his passcode and the door opened. They stepped through and immediately Mara notice there were two Lukes. Awestruck, she turned to Anakin. "Ok…I believe you."

"Hello, Mara." Luke said as Luke (past) looked on with puzzlement because he had never met Mara, at least not yet.

Anakin just smiled and walked over to the computer counsel. He looked back at Mara who was still staring at his son and double. "It's a long story, Mara. Mara?" He said when he didn't get her attention. "Mara!"

Mara took her gaze off of the Lukes and looked at Anakin as though she was startled. "Yes. I'm sorry. This is just so amazing." She said as with a smile as Anakin watched her with interest. After recovering from the initial shock, she snapped her attention back to the task at hand. "What do you need me to do?" She asked Anakin.

Anakin pointed to another computer counsel and Mara walked over to it.

"Thank you for doing this, Mara." Padme told her with a smile.

Mara smiled back at Padme. "I'm happy to."

"Now, when I say three, we need to start entering our Imperial passcodes at the same time." Anakin said as he looked at Mara. She was positioning her hands on the keyboard and looked over to Anakin who was doing the same. She waited for his signal.

"Ok…one…two…three." Anakin said and they both busily typed in their passcodes. The computer beeped and a message appeared on the screen. 'Welcome to the Imperial Archive Database.' Anakin and Mara smiled at each other. "We're in. Thank you, Mara."

"You're welcome."

Once they were in, everyone went over to their own computer terminals and started looking through the files for anything that could help them figure out how to work the device and maybe where it's located. Although, all they were able to find was technical readouts and nothing that would really help them determine how to operate it. Which is why it's probably taking Thrawn so long to figure it out. Anakin thought to himself.

Then after a few hours, they heard an excited yelp from Padme. "Anakin, I think I found something!" She said as she turned to him with a huge smile on her face.

"What did you find?" Anakin asked as he quickly walked over to stand behind his wife to view her screen. Although, when he got there, there wasn't anything relating to the time travel device…but instead there was a picture of Anakin from before the Clone Wars with a profile attached. "Padme!"

She laughed at her husband and turned to look up at him with a devious smile. "Well, I thought it was quite a find."

Anakin laughed and bent down and kissed his wife. "And so are you." He said as he stood back up to his full height and crossed his arms in front of him. "Cute. But I thought you'd actually found something important."

"I did." She said told him. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, the whole time laughing. He started back towards to his counsel, but hen Padme became more serious. "No, really, I DID find something."

Anakin looked back over to her. "What do you mean?" He said as he walked back over to stand behind her, putting his right hand on the back of her chair and the other one on the counsel. This time it was a picture of the device and some information on how it was actually suppose to work. "Why didn't you show me this before?"

"I just wanted to take the opportunity to tease my husband." She said with a giggle.

He laughed and reached over to kissed her again, putting his arms around her. "Oh did you now. I didn't know that was allowed." He then became serious and moved to sit in the chair next to her and started reading what was on the screen.

The others all came over and gathered around the screen. "What's it say?" Han asked.

"It says, we're in a whole lot of trouble if we don't find that machine before Thrawn gets ahold of this information. And if we can find it, he may be able to also."

"Anakin, maybe we should save it all on a disk and delete it from the archives." Mara suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea." Anakin replied as he grabbed a disk from a drawer and started saving all the information, techical readouts and all. Then with Mara's help, because they needed both their passcodes again to delete the files, he deleted everything that had to do with it.

He started to get up and go towards the door with the disk, when Padme stopped him. "Wait a minute. Shouldn't we set this up so the New Republic can access these files. I found extensive files on the Old Republic, in addition to the Empire, that tne New Republic could use."

Anakin sighed. "You're right." So, for now, because time was of the essence, Mara and he set up passcodes for Padme and Leia, so they could at least get into the archives. They decided having two people was probably a good idea and left it that security protocol in place.

Before leaving, they explained everything to Mara and she expressed an interest in helping them any way she could. When they said they still didn't know where the device could be or where the Empire is, for that matter, she said she would call all her's and Karrde's contacts to see if anyone has any idea where they could be hiding.

They all headed back out to their prospective speeders, everyone going their separate ways. Han went home to Leia, the visitors to their Falcon, Luke to the Jedi Temple, Mara back to the Wilde Karrde, and Anakin and Padme back to their apartment.

They decided it was late and would deal with this more in the morning.

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Anakin and Padme's Apartment

When Anakin and Padme arrived back at their home. They were relieved that Shmi was still asleep and headed back to their bedroom to get ready for bed.

When Padme came out of the refresher wearing a silky blue nightgown, Anakin was already in bed, lying on his side, and appeared to be asleep. She looked over at her husband and sighed at how peaceful and handsome he looked. He still liked to sleep in only his pajama bottoms, so his bare chest was exposed from underneath the covers, with one bare arm under his head and the other draped over his stomach.

She continued to brush out her long brown hair, watching him breath and thinking how lucky she was to have him back. And to have their family together. Even after 5 years, she still marveled at the miracle of it all, considering what happened to all of them when the Old Republic fell 28 years ago.

It was a dream come true after what happened between them on Mustafar. She didn't recognize him then…She had lost him to hate and jealousy…to the Dark Side. And, yet, she still is afraid that one day she will wake up to discover that it was just a dream and that the man she loves never came back from the darkness to be with her.

When she was done brushing her hair, she placed the brush on the vanity and then went to climb into bed. She pulled the covers up over her and reached up to turn the light off, hoping and praying that perhaps Shmi will finally sleep through the entire night. She laid back down and tried to get comfortable, when to her delightful surprised, she felt the mattress move and Anakin's arms came around her in the dark. He started to kiss her neck, making her giggle and enjoy his touch.

"I thought you were asleep?" She asked him, continuing to enjoy his kisses on the bare skin of her neck.

"I was until you distracted me from my dreams." He said as he continued to kiss her, moving now up to her lips. She was now passionately kissing him back when…

"WAAAAAH!"

"Uggggghhhhh!" Anakin groaned. He then pulled away from their embrace and rolled over to turn on the light. "I'll go." He said as he pulled the covers off of him and swung his feet out of the bed and onto the floor.

"Are you sure?" Padme asked him, now sitting up and holding her knees to her chest. "I think it's my turn."

Anakin brushed his hands through his hair and then got up off the bed. "It's ok. I can go." He said as he turned to her and smiled. "You know…I don't remember Ben being so needy." Anakin said as he started towards the door.

"And what exactly are you implying by that?" Padme teased him as they continued to hear Shmi's wail from the other room.

"Oh, nothing." He smirked. "I'll be back as soon as I can." And then he left their bedroom for the baby's room.

Padme laid in their bed staring at the ceiling. It had been over an hour since Anakin left to go to the baby's room and Shmi had stopped crying in half that time.

Kicking the covers off of her, she swung her feet around and got up, putting her robe on and proceeded out the door to the babies room. When she arrived there, she saw Anakin sitting in the rocking chair with Shmi in his arms, feeding her a bottle; but Shmi was hardly sucking on it as she fought to stay awake.

"Are you coming back to bed soon?" Padme whispered to him as she crossed the room to stand next to her husband, placing her right hand on his bare shoulder.

He looked up at her and smiled. "Soon…I think she may be done." Shmi had entirely stopped sucking on the almost empty bottle and was back to sleep. Anakin slowly took the bottle out of her mouth and placed it on the table next to him. He then carefully got up and carried his baby daughter over to the crib and gently place her in it.

Padme came up behind him and put her arms around his waist. He did the same to her as they continued to smile down at their sleeping child. Yes. She was the luckiest woman in the galaxy. If only the rest of our lives were this simple.