As she watched the Falcon bolt into the sky, General Leia Organa suddenly felt very tired. She had lived nearly 60 years and suffered enough for 2 life times. The Force had always given her unusual strength in times of strife. She could feel it envelope her like a blanket, it gave her focus, made her mind clear to be decisive. However, now for the first time in nearly 60 years, Leia was tired.

She thought Ben's turn had been bad, when he closed off his mind to her, she could no longer hear his thoughts. However, the moment she felt her son's genuine satisfaction running his saber through his father, sealing his fate, Leia felt the life just drain out of her. Then feeling Han, his life force always so bright, a true man of the light, his shock, his disappointment that he couldn't do this one thing for Leia, the deep love he still had for her and for their son, and Leia nearly collapsed. She had lost so much. Now her only hope was that her brother would come back to fight and train once more a new generation of Jedi to take up the call.

"General, I hope this works," said Poe Dameron coming up to Leia.

"So do, I," said Leia quietly, "It has to."

She turned to Poe and suddenly she was back in command mode. All she has now was the Resistance, and she would do anything to make sure these fighters had every chance to make their mark.

"We don't have much time," she said and began walking back to the base entrance, "I want you go to check on our new friend Finn, and make sure he's ready to transport."

"Transport, are we leaving General?" asked Poe.

"It won't take long for the First Order to regroup," began Leia, "It's not safe here anymore, they will come, and we need to be as far away as we can be." she finished and she turned to walk into the doorway to the base command post. She paused, "Poe you have proven yourself a capable leader, and I want you to oversee this evacuation."

"Ma'am," Poe said surprisingly.

"Poe, I'm going to have to pass the torch soon," she began, "I've already selected the Draynous system as our next target base, the 5th planet in the system would shield us nicely, I'll load the files to your data and we can work out the logistics after dinner in the command center."

"Yes, General," replied Poe.

Leia slipped inside, past the control room and to her private quarters. She would skip dinner in hopes of resting. She would meditate, maybe that would help her find her balance once again.

After meeting with Poe to go over the evacuation plan, Leia had retired to her sparse quarters to rest. Resting, it was something she didn't take time for in the past, there was never enough time. After the battle of Endor, the Empire was in full retreat. With the evil of Darth Vader and is Emperor nullified, it didn't take long for many of the Moff's to abandon their posts. The galaxy was tired of the suppression and many more citizens in the systems had joined the now named "New Republic" and began over throwing their oppressors. All of this meant work for politicians. There were now committee's and a new government to set up. Many systems joined the New Republic; however a few, weary of centralized government, did not join only sought trade treaties. Leia didn't blame them, in the years since the fall of the Empire, she had studied the Imperial records and learned of Palpatines rise to power, mass hysteria gripped a panic stricken Old Republic and power was centralized into one man, who then used it for his own dark purposes. She knew some systems would never return, but that was fine. The Rebellion was fought for freedom, freedom for all peoples to decide their own fates. So if a few systems wanted to remain independent who was she or anyone else to deny them that?

In the middle of the political work and ending an empire, Leia had become a wife. Han proposed the night of the victory party on Endor and Leia had eagerly accepted. She loved him and didn't want to think of life without him. However, after the excitement of the proposal, Leia did begin to question if Han knew what he was getting into. She wondered if Han really could commit to stay in one place, his life had always been spent among the stars. Also, how patient would he be with a wife that would always be grounded in the cause? She had expressed these to him a few weeks before the wedding; and even had called the wedding off when the pressure and doubts got to her. It was Han who convinced her that it would be alright. She remembered fondly, him sneaking into her apartment, locking them inside, making sure they would not be interrupted and for 3 straight days he simply took care of her. Oh, he worked wonders with his talented hands, tongue and body; but it was the fact that he had sat for 3 days while she had a melt down and listened her name all the reasons they wouldn't work. He didn't demean her, tell her she was being crazy, get angry, nope he'd calmly listened and then when she became too tired to say more, he had tenderly seduced her fears away. One time would forever be burnt into her memory, Han atop of her watching her come undone, he leaned in and kissed her passionately and told her he'd eagerly show her every day for the rest of thier lives why they could work, if only she would not be afraid. It was in this moment their precious son had been conceived.

After three days of Han's magic, Leia came to her senses and the wedding was back on; and it went off without a hitch. It was a lovely wedding. Initially; Mon Monthan had wanted a galactic affair. However, Leia resisted and kept it modest with just a few people attending. Luke had given her away and Chewie had stood as best man. She will never forget the light of love in Han's eyes as he stood and pledged himself to her. Later on the dance floor he had leaned down to whisper tenderly in her ear, "Every day sweetheart," reminding her of his promise. It had been wonderful and the two month honeymoon had been full of excitement, as during she found out she was pregnant. Han beamed, excited, talked about all the modifications he was going to make to the Falcon for the 'little tyke,' how he couldn't wait to teach him to pilot. She had been caught up in Han's excitement it had been easy to ignore her own fears at first.

She never could accept the Force side of her, while she knew she had it, and had worked with Luke to keep herself focused; it had never been something she wanted a part of. She could also never fully accept the Skywalker side of her either; Bail Organa had been her father, not a fallen Jedi named Anakin Skywalker. While Luke embraced the legacy of the force in their family, Leia simply couldn't and wouldn't. She also feared what she was passing on to her unborn son, the Force has conceived Anakin; so just how strong was it in both Luke and Leia? She also knew Palpatine had targeted Anakin as a boy, manipulating him for years; she feared for her unborn child and what evil may be attracted to him. It had been Han who once again listened; a man who had been skeptical of the Force was now a full fledged believer and even consulted with an astonished Luke on just how to keep darkness at bay. Han would simply wink and Leia and say, "will just smother this kid with so much love and affection, and if darkness shows up, there's his pirate father, sassy mother, Jedi knight uncle, and bad ass wookie uncle, that'll take'em down." She had believed him.

In those days it was easy to believe him, and for a time things were fine. Their beautiful baby boy had come into the world and once again Leia took on a new role. She loved being a wife and a mother. At times she had wished that is all she was. Watching Han adapt to fatherhood had made her fall deeper in love with him. He had been true to his word; and every day would do something, even if it was simple to show how devoted he was to her and their family. He kept his commission as a general for only a few short years after the war before finally turning in his strips. Leia was neither surprised nor upset; she knew her husband, and he was the kind to never sit idly by and take orders. He and Chewie had started up a legitimate shipping business, "Falcons Freight," that had exploded into a 7 freighter fleet and Han having to hire extra help, and still had to contract jobs out at times. He became the successful business man, splitting the profits evenly with Chewie. She had envied Han, as he often would take Ben with him on trips. Han always said he was training him to take over. Leia wished she could take Ben with her to work, however the Senate was not an ideal place for a youngster and also, Ben always said the Senate was boring. Life had been so good in those early years, yes they were both busy but nothing was more important than their family.

Things had changed when Leia was elected Chancellor, which meant she was needed more at work and dreadfully off planet as well. While she tried to maintain balance, truth is, her job took her away more times than she's like to admit. It was during this time she started to notice change in Ben, she always blamed herself for being away so much, that Ben resented her for it. He started to withdraw more, and would spend less time with his father; he had loved the help and fly the Falcon, now he simply brooded in his room. While he did well in school, teachers would often comment that Ben wanted to be left alone, and would get angry of anyone disturbed him. He also started asking more questions about the Force and family history. He came across the Imperial records and learned of Anakin Skywalker's heroic deeds during the clone wars. Leia had been reluctant, but it had been Luke that encouraged her to tell Ben everything, the good and the bad. The only way to combat whatever was happening to Ben was with truth, so he would know his parents and family could always be trusted. However, it had only been the beginning; Ben became obsessed with his family's history and became angry at Leia for not fully embracing who she was. Leia had tried to explain to Ben she was simply not interested, however, for Ben nothing was more important than developing into a Jedi warrior. It had worried Leia and Han too, as Ben started to pull away further. Leia feared she was losing her son, as she sensed darkness all around him, so she had sent him to Luke. It had not been an easy decision to do so, Han at first had been very angry. However, for the first time in a long time Ben seemed excited, and the darkness had receded, so Leia believed it was the will of the Force for Ben to be sent away at the age of 13 to begin training. The decision, however, led to the growing ridge between the family. With no Ben at home Leia threw herself into her duty, and with no Leia to come home to every night, so did Han. No one was minding the marriage and slowly it began to break down. Ben's turn to the dark side only revealed how fragile it had become.

Thinking about all of now left Leia hollow and weak. How she wished she could get those years back. She had missed Han so much when he had left. Now knowing the full reason he had left her, to spare her pain, only broke her heart more. Her beloved husband, he was always trying to protect her. If only they would have talked, if only that hadn't been so busy, Han would have seen she needed him.

They had found each other again, and were reconciled; with Han back in her life she now believed anything was possible. Han would bring their boy home, he was Ben's father and Leia knew how much Han loved Ben. Ben had loved them both once, a long time ago, that love was still there. However, it was not to be. Now she is haunted by the moment, when the blade seared her husband's chest and that darkness consumed her son completely. She lost the two people she loved the most on that bridge, her son was gone forever now and Han was gone to. She had no one, and that is why she just felt so tired. She longed for Han, and it would be a longing that would never cease. She also was beginning to question how much more she could take, how much longer she would have to suffer, when would it all end.

She was pondering these things when she heard commotion outside her door. She knew the base would be busy with the evacuation plans but this sounded like a fight. She got up and went to her door and opened it coming face to face with Poe.

"General," Poe said out of breath.

"Poe, what is going on?" she asked.

"A fleet of ships just came out of hyper space," Poe replied.

"The First Order," Leia said grimly.

"No, it looks to be what is left of the remaining Republic fleet," said Poe. "You're being comm'd"

"What!" Leia exclaimed and took off for the main control room.

The room was a bustle of activity as the crew tried to make sense of these latest developments.

"General we have a message," said one of the officers. "Coming up on main viewer,"

On the main viewed a face appeared, a middle aged women with blonde hair tightly pulled back, thin lips in a firm line, eyes that were hard as steel. Leia recognized her, Vice Chancellor Dern, she had been elected a few years ago and she had served in the Senate nearly as long as Leia. What did this mean?

"Resistance fighters," Dern began, "You will stand down immediately, the Republic will now be in command and our orders will be followed, this is a non-sanctioned military unit and it will be disbanded, as for General Leia Organa Solo, she is under arrest for crimes against the Republic, if any of you aid or abed her you will be tried as war criminals along side of her," she finished.

The officers all looked to the General for what to do and for the first time Leia had no idea what to tell them, and also for the first time, Leia had to will left in her to fight.