Mara looked back out at the lights. "Strange," she told him. "It's sort of like coming home . . . only it isn't. I've never really stood here and just looked at the city like this. The only times I was ever up here were to watch for a certain airspeeder to arrive or to keep an eye on some particular building or something like that. Business for the Emperor. I don't think he ever saw the Imperial City as people and lights—to him it was just power and opportunities."
"Probably how he saw everything," Luke agreed. "And speaking about opportunities . . . ?"
Mara grimaced. She'd been right: he was here for her answer. "The whole thing's ridiculous," she said. "You know it, and I know it."
"Karrde doesn't think so."
"Karrde's even a worse idealist than you are sometimes," she shot back. "In the first place, he's never going to be able to hold this smuggler coalition of his together."
"Maybe not," Luke said. "But think of the possibilities if he can. There are a lot of contacts and information sources out there in the fringe that the New Republic doesn't have any access to at all."
"So what do you need information sources for?" Mara countered. "Thrawn's dead, his cloning center is a shambles, and the Empire's in retreat again. You've won."
"We won at Endor, too," Luke pointed out. "That didn't stop us from years of so-called mopping-up action. There's still a lot of work yet to be done."
"It still doesn't make any sense to put me in the middle of it," Mara argued. "If you want a liaison between you and the smugglers, why don't you get Karrde to do it?"
"Because Karrde's a smuggler. You were just a smuggler's assistant."
She snorted. "Big difference."
"To some people, it is," Luke said. "This whole negotiation process is running as much on appearance and image as it is on reality. Anyway, Karrde's already said he won't do it. Now that those vornskrs of his have recovered, he wants to get back out to his people."
Mara shook her head. "I'm not a politician," she insisted. "Not a diplomat, either."
"But you're someone both sides are willing to trust," Luke said. "That's what's important here."
Mara made a face. "You don't know these people, Skywalker. Trust me—Chewbacca and the guys you're sending out to transplant the Noghri to their new world are going to have a lot more fun."
He touched her hand. "You can do it, Mara. I know you can."
She sighed. "I have to think about it."
"That's all right," he said. "Just come on downstairs whenever you're ready."
"Sure." She threw a sideways look at him. "Was there something else?"
He smiled. "You're getting good at that."
"Your fault for teaching me too well. Come on, what is it?"
"Just this." Reaching into his tunic, he pulled out a lightsaber.
"What's this?" Mara asked, frowning.
"It's my old lightsaber," Luke told her quietly. "The one I lost at Cloud City, and nearly got killed with at Wayland." He held it out. "I'd like you to have it."
She looked up at him, startled. "Me? Why?"
He shrugged self-consciously. "Lots of reasons. Because you earned it. Because you're on your way to becoming a Jedi and you'll need it. Mostly, though, because I want you to have it."
Slowly, almost reluctantly, she took the weapon. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." He touched her hand again. "I'll be in the conference room with the others. Come on down when you've decided."
He turned and walked away across the Palace roof. Mara turned to gaze out at the lights of the city again, the cool metal of the lightsaber pressed against her hand. Luke's lightsaber. Probably one of his last links to the past . . . and he was giving it away.
Was there a message in that for her? Probably. Like she'd said, subtlety wasn't one of Luke's strong points. But if that was why he'd done it, he'd been wasting his time. Her last link with the past had been broken in the Mount Tantiss throne room.
Her past was over. It was time to get on with the future. And the New Republic was that future. Whether she liked it or not.
Behind her, she heard Luke open the roof door. "Hang on a minute," she called after him. "I'll come with you."
* *
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Timothy Zahn, Star Wars - Thrawn Trilogy - The Last Command 03
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