It was this unmonitored covert entrance which Mara used, intending to keep her return below the radar, coming out in the walk-in store in the Music Room of Luke's apartment. From here she slipped through the West Drawing Room, skipping quickly across the main corridor and into the massive, opulent but little-used Stateroom, coming out into the corridor which led to Luke's private rooms.
It was the route with least surveillance, though in truth it wasn't particularly the lenses Mara wished to avoid- she had every right to be in Luke's apartments and could easily have been picking up anything for him, particularly since the last three rooms she would enter had all surveillance routinely nullified by Luke to ensure his own privacy. But the fact was she didn't want to be caught by Reece, Skywalker's other 'watcher', the eyes and ears of Palpatine in Luke's private rooms- and the reason why the Emperor was confident enough to allow Luke the occasional dissent in disconnecting security lenses.
Nor did she want to face Hallin particularly, whom she knew would just take the opportunity to get high and mighty with her, particularly if he found out why she was here.
But it seemed she'd made it without encountering anybody, staff and security routinely moving to the entrance to the apartment - either to the Staff Wing or to the Guard's Rooms - when Luke wasn't in residence. She was halfway down the last hallway, congratulating herself at having made it so easily, when the door to Luke's private rooms began to open-
Glancing to her left, Mara slipped quickly through the door there and into Luke's office, the only other room which had nullified surveillance, hoping to avoid whoever it was, thinking she recognised Reece's voice as she did so.
She backed across the large office, suddenly fearing he would use this common short-cut to the Staff Wing-
Her eyes were drawn momentarily to the bulk of the massive desk and she took three steps toward it, intending to hide beneath, before changing her mind at the last moment and heading for the second exit opposite the one she had entered. She was halfway there when the door release sounded behind her-
Knowing she wouldn't get out and manage to close the automatic door in time, she ducked into the small fresher close to her, this door opened by hand. She'd made the right decision, because she barely had time to pull it closed, carefully holding the handle to silence the latch sliding home, before whoever it was entered the room, their voice muffled but audible.
"...wish he wouldn't. It's an unnecessary risk, to go so far out of his way. It'll mean he's gone around seven hours- that's a hell of a long time for something to go wrong."
It was Reece's voice; Mara listened in silence, ear to the door, willing him to walk straight through the office and out again at the other exit.
"He must feel it's important enough to warrant it. You know he wouldn't take the risk otherwise."
Hallin's voice- he must be with Reece; Mara heaved a silent sigh of relief at having avoided them both.
"And in a fighter!" Reece continued, unmollified, "He needs to get a ship out of Mosiin Barracks, fly it dangerously close to Palace surveillance and get it into Tingarn Barracks where his father is, all under the radar."
'His father... at Tingarn Barracks'- they were talking about Luke!
"I thought Interat-TIE had a low..." Hallin hesitated, instantly out of his depth, "Radar... silhouette or something?"
"Radar profile, and they do, but the stormtroopers in both Barracks have eyes in their heads- and ears. It doesn't matter how radar-reflective the I-TIE is or how many release orders he issues at Mosiin, he's still got to land it at Tingarn."
Mara frowned now, her curiosity peaked. If Luke was intending to go to Tingarn Barracks then it was clearly without the Emperor's permission...
"Which reminds me- I should probably check that it's one of the Echo flights from the 701st who accompany The Heir to Mosiin- theirs are the only fighters which have been modified to have their call-signs adaptable. He can't very well broadcast a 701st military ID heading into Tingarn."
They hadn't moved from the office, but now Mara's original reason for hiding was forgotten in this rush of information-
"Oh!" Hallin said quickly, as if remembering, "He told me to tell you that if it was fast enough, he'd take Karrde's slicer's ship instead- it'll be somewhere very close to Mosiin Barracks when he gets there, he said, because the slicer's dropping off a code or something... did I not mention this? He said to still get an Interat-TIE prepped though, in case it's not."
"Where was I when this little chat was going on?"
"You were on the comm and Jade had come back into the room- he only had a moment; he whispered it to me."
"Is there anything else, before I go and arrange a meeting The Heir's already changed his mind about?"
Mara felt her head buzz as the implications of all this suddenly sank in; Reece knew already... he knew. The only way he could know all this was working for Luke... he was working for Luke!
Her mind went again to the Emperor's decision to appoint Reece as Skywalker's Aide, recruited by Pestage on Palpatine's order; he'd maintained that Reece's usefulness was in his capacity to unknowingly blunt his thoughts; nothing intentional or preconceived, he simply had what Palpatine referred to as a 'quiet mind'. It was this which had earned him his coveted position as Luke's Aide; the fact that his status as Palpatine's agent wouldn't be detected. And sure enough, Luke seemed not to have realised, eventually accepting Reece after a long, wary period of distrust...
Only it wasn't acceptance at all, Mara realised- it was recruitment; Reece had spent so long in Skywalker's company and Luke always took such care to remain for the most part out of surveillance, even here.
He'd had all that time- years- to unravel Reece. And who would know? Reece was deep cover, reporting to Pestage and intentionally given no direct contact with Palpatine. At a distance that naturally 'quiet mind' had clearly bought Reece immunity from the Emperor's scrutiny.
Had Skywalker know this- was that why he'd recruited him?
A stray thought came to mind, of long ago - the very first night that she'd secretly stayed in Luke's apartments in the Palace - the following morning when Hallin had come racing into the bedroom with a warning that Amedda was on his way there; she'd realised then just how trusted Hallin was, that he already knew about Luke and Mara's affair... but Luke had mentioned someone else too- had told Hallin to arrange for Wez to help hide Mara's presence there.
At the time, in the panic of the moment, it had slipped past simply because Luke had referred to Reece by his first name; Wez. He never normally did so in front of her; it must have been a slip under pressure. Now, she wanted to slap her forehead in frustration.
Why hadn't she spotted it?!
Luke could feed Palpatine anything- any information at all under the guise of reliable information diligently logged and reported to Pestage by Reece, always third-party because he was a trusted, deep-cover agent; no direct contact which may have compromised his cover.
Now, Mara realised just much freedom Luke really had; aside from herself, Reece had been the other constant undercover source which Palpatine had relied on to know Luke's movements when he was beyond automated surveillance... and here he was helping Luke sneak out under the Emperor's nose - in the Capital no less - to see his father!
His father! Mara hitched in a breath at that, her hand raising to cover her open mouth in disbelief; because this clearly wasn't some incredible, one-off event- this was routine. Luke had been holding secret meetings with Vader... the two people whom Palpatine absolutely would not allow any amity between had been meeting in secret for how long? Years, possibly-