After the Emperor's "death," her Force powers diminished and she became an outcast who had to find a new job. She ended up working for smuggler Talon Karrde, becoming his second-in-command. But, in the strange ways of the Force, I did encounter Mara -- and she saved my life, a favor we were to trade several times. She fulfilled the Emperor's final command, at least in a roundabout way: She and Karrde had been drawn into the battle between the New Republic and Grand Admiral Thrawn. The mad Jedi clone Joruus C'Baoth called both Mara and myself to him on Wayland, then unleashed a clone of me, named Luuke, made with the hand I had lost at Bespin; Mara killed it -- and finally C'Baoth as well with help from me and Leia Organa-Solo . She was finally free of the Emperor's will.

Over the next few years, Mara helped Karrde form a guild, the Smuggler's Alliance, and threw its support to the New Republic. Then Karrde turned his operations over to Mara completely for a while. She spent some time with Kyle Katarn, exploring her Force-potential as well as some ancient Sith temples. After I started the Academy, Mara became a pupil briefly but left to continue running the guild. I still feel she also left because she was frightened of her Force powers, except her "danger sense" which she used quite often in her line of work. Until then, she had only used them for the gain of the Dark Side, and she still had to get used to using them again.

After surviving many dangerous adventures and threats to the galaxy, including the hit -and-run attacks of Admiral Daala, the Sun Crusher, and the rise of the Dark Sider Kueller among many others, Mara and I spent quite a bit of time alone while tracking down the Hand of Thrawn. It was during this time that I felt I had become closer to Mara than I had ever thought possible. It was as if we had merged throught the Force, becoming one entity. It was a feeling that I had never felt before or since. Soon after things returned to what we call normal, Mara and I were wed, first in a Jedi ceremony on Yavin IV and later in a public ceremony on Coruscant. It was the last symbolic seal on the peace treaty the New Republic had made with the Imperial Remnant.

After the wedding, Mara took Jaina Solo as her apprentice. Jaina, I think, admired Mara not only for her Force ability, but also for her exceptional piloting skills and strong sense of freedom and individuality. Sadly, Mara then came down with a mysterious disease, that had proven fatal in all previous patients, a disease manufactured by the Yuuzhan Vong. I believe that Mara's strength in the Force, her deep friendships, and her iron will had been the only buffers between her and its debilitating effects. Her time spent on Dantooine with Anakin Solo recuperating helped her realize that staying active in the Force, rather than conserving energy, seemed to help her the most. A strange turn of events involving a Vong priestess-turned-assassin and her familiar, an odd looking yet apparently native creature called Vergere, cast new light on her predicament. The tears of Vergere, applied to Mara topically and absorbed through her skin, temporarily halted the disease's effects. No matter what may come in the future, however, I will always stand beside her in her struggle.

Luckily, the tears of Vergere held out long enough. Soon after an arrest order was given out for me on Coruscant and we had to flee, Mara gave birth to our son, Ben Skywalker, under the care of Cilghal. If Mara's strength and warm heart are inherited by our son, I know he will be all right. But if her hard-headedness and independence are passed on, I might die of worry. Not long after giving birth, Mara was right back on the war front. She helped me stock and run the secret Jedi base of Eclipse. She also flew in a flight element with me and Tam Azur-Jamin at the defense of Coruscant from a Vong thrust to the Core. Mara's maternal instincts kicked into overdrive when Ben was lost in the confusion. We both know that we fight not just for ourselves or even for the galaxy, but for the future of our son.