At the end of everything and on the way home, Luke and Mara talk, both epilogue-ing for us and resolving one of her subplots. Then Luke asks her what has her "walking around like a kid in a cemetary at midnight. The thing you've been trying to bury where you hope I won't notice it."
"Did it ever occur to you - I mean, did you ever really think about it - just how sneaky and convoluted this whole scheme of [redacted] was?"
"You forgot to add underhanded."
"Oh, absolutely underhanded. The idea of [redacted! Read the book, it's awesome!] is about as devious as you can get. Especially when you add the extra touch of [redacted]."
"Devious and a half. So?"
"So who do we know who specialized in exactly that kind of convoluted plan?"
"I don't know. Car'das, maybe? You said he used to work for Karrde, who's always been pretty good at the devious approach himself. And we already know he was the one who maneuvered [redacted] aboard."
"I suppose it could have been him. Though from one Shada said it sounded like he mostly keeps out of galactic affairs there days. I was thinking more about someone with a proven record for strategic and tactical finesse."
"No. It couldn't be. We destroyed that clone, remember?"
"We destroyed a clone. But who's to say he didn't have another one stashed away somewhere?"
"No. It's impossible. If there was another clone of Thrawn running around, we would have heard about it by now."
"Would we? Remember, according to Parck, the only reason Thrawn came back to attack the New Republic was to whip us into fighting shape for some danger looming out there at the edge of the galaxy. Maybe he figures we're as ready as we're going to be and has decided to concentrate on [redacted]."
"Or maybe the [redacted] were more than just locals. Maybe they've already been in contact with the threat Parck and Fel mentioned to you."
"Could be. Of course, that would just give the Chiss one more reason to squash the [redacted]. Not only would it eliminate part of the threat, but they might also learn something about possible new enemies when they sifted through the rubble."
"I wish you'd mentioned this while we were still aboard the Chaf Envoy. We could have asked [redacted] about it."
"That's exactly why I didn't mention it then. Because we probably would have asked, and frankly I don't want to know. If Thrawn's back, I think we can assume he's more or less on our side. If he's not back, I guess we'll all just have to make do on our own."