Which went towards explaining one important fact, Mara knew; the simple reason that they couldn't work out how Luke was moving down through the Tower without being spotted, was that he hadn't been moving. Why was a different question.
"So he went up, not down," Palpatine finally grated, voice leaden with barely-controlled anger.
Mara reached out to the console and pulled up the images from the corridor outside Ops 90, taking them backwards at high-speed.
The brief flash of two figures made her halt the image, playing it back several times as she studied it, dumbstruck. At first glance, it was an officer and what looked like an aide in civilian clothes--but obviously wasn't Skywalker.
Still, she studied it closely--they were the last two people to walk into that room. It didn't take much to realize that the officer was Skywalker, now that she was looking for him...but the other man...
"Is that Solo?" she finally asked, squinting, aware that the Corellian was no longer in his cell.
She paused the image; the man stood with his back to the surveillance lens, Skywalker's hand to the small of his back, but it sure as hell looked like Solo. Which prompted the question...how did Skywalker get him up there?
And what the hell were they doing now?
Palpatine interrupted her thoughts. "Start to bring the Guards up from the lower levels. No less than ten per unit--if he fights his way out, then I want to at least hear it. Don't put them too close until you have enough to contain him--and nobody moves until I get there."
Mara nodded at her master, a thought occurring as he turned to the door, face like thunder. "Master, what about Solo?"
"His life is forfeit either way. It always was--it was just a matter of when. If it's possible to keep him alive so that I can do this myself, then all the better. If not, then do what you have to do in order to control Skywalker. A body-shot to Solo without killing him would slow them both down."
Mara nodded, turning back to the ops board to redeploy guards again. When she'd organized their progress by squads up to Ops 90, she took the time to stand down the security alert from the Main Palace and begin bringing stormtroopers up to the Tower from there. She wanted every available body up in the South Tower and around Skywalker.
This whole event had been a series of fiascos, being led by Skywalker from one carefully placed misdirection to another, and Palpatine didn't even begin to realize the extent of her own unwilling involvement in it yet. Mara wasn't about to let Skywalker get away again.
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"Luke?" Han was trying his best to look innocuous and run at the same time, not quite succeeding at either, but near enough on both.
"What?" It was the kid, sounding about as worried as Han felt right now.
"I think something's going on down here. There's a lot more people about all of a sudden. And a lot less armor."
There was a long pause, and Han wondered why it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. The kid's voice, when he finally spoke, did nothing to ease Han's nervousness.
"That's okay--it's planned for. You should ha...a clea...run to Lev...six-one now. Move fast."
Han frowned. "You're cutting out. Is your comlink okay?"
"Hol...on. Yeah, I thin...jus...power levels. I managed to get the...one..dying a death. Maybe....stop.. .....ster."
"Yeah, I didn't get any of that last bit."
"How's this? I said mayb...if you stopp...complaining, you might get ther...faster."
"I'm here now--I see the landing bay door. See, some of us can do two things at once, junior," Han crowed, carried along by the adrenaline of finally doing something. "Where are you?"
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Up in the Ops room, Luke released his hold on the cut-out of his comm again.
"I'm on level fifteen in the South Tower, just inside the landing bay you saw up here." Luke was glad this was over the comm--he wasn't sure he could have lied so easily face-to-face. Not even for this. "You should be able to just key open the door of the bay where you are. I bypassed the security earlier on from up here."
Ignoring Arco's curious gaze, Luke checked the already-pulled image from the North Landing Bay on Level one-six-one as Han walked inside, the wide doors sliding shut behind him as he brought his comlink to his mouth.
"Luke? I'm...hey, where's the Falcon?"
Luke smiled, unfazed; he'd been expecting this, had planned for it. It just wasn't worth the amount of hassle that he would otherwise get if he didn't somehow seem to get Han's precious Falcon free too.
"I'm looking at it right now--it's up here in the Tower," he lied.
"You kidding me! Stay right there, I'm coming up!"
Luke could practically see his friend's grin, and it was infectious--but he couldn't let it interfere with the plan. Or his resolve. "There is no way in a million years you're getting up into the Tower, Solo. You know the security." As he spoke, Luke feathered the cut-out on his comlink again, so the signal was interrupted. But Han got enough.
"What? No way am I leaving here without her."
"I'll fly her. You need to take one of the shuttles in the bay you're in, now--that's why you're there"
"These! These are for kids and bored data-pushers."
"Exactly. No one's gonna look twice. Now pick one--I'm on a schedule here." Luke watched the small image of Han as he dropped the comlink to his side and rolled his head in frustration.
But even he knew better than to argue in a building packed full of stormtroopers, so he glanced around, starting forward. "How's the Falcon?"
"I'm not onboard yet. I'll give you a shout when I am," Luke lied. "Now get one of those executive toys and get out of there. I've unlocked bay three, seven, eight and nine. Take your pick."
Luke continued to feather the comlink as he spoke, aware of Arco's puzzled eyes on him. He glanced down, winking secretively at the man, more for his own sanity than anything else, deeply uncomfortable with the lie, but absolutely believing it necessary.
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Han was just into the fastest-looking of the four painfully average skyhoppers when his comlink sparked to life again.
"Han, I'm on board the Falcon. I've just started pre-flight. I think I may need to go to full power pretty quick."
He scrabbled for his comlink. "He, don't mess up my ship! You fly her too hard!"
"Me? That's rich!"
"And don't let her get messed up either--don't let anyone shoot at her."
"Thanks--I'll try to remember that," the voice came back dryly.
"Hey, there has been a precedent set," Han maintained, balancing his comlink on the pilot's seat of the shuttle as he wrenched the under-board panel free.
"Two incident.. is not.. precedent," came the kid's voice, clipped by his weak com signal.
"Three more like. Four if you count the one on Ord Mantell," Han shouted towards the comlink without lifting it, concentrating on pulling out carefully selected wires from below the pilot's console.
"Uh-uh," the kid denied. "They were shooting at you that time--I jus...happen...to be flying."
"How's she looking?" Han asked, stripping insulation from wires with his teeth.
"A lot of systems ar...down... What the...ell wer...you doing on Bespin? Lightspeed.. whole comm syste... navigat...nal shields and quad gun...ar...all out. She's runnin...on low power too. I think there's somethi... wrong with the main thrusters. But she'll fly."
That stopped Han dead. "What!? She was fine when I left her on Bespin. Just the hyperdrive."
"Hey, I didn'...touch her--I wasn't even flying."
"Well, maybe you should have been, and then she..."
"This is so very not th...time."
Han scowled, spitting out bits of insulation and connecting bared components, not at all happy with this--he'd rather be on the Falcon. "Luke? Bring her down and land here--pick me up."