Leia looks at the group in front of her and presses her hand to her temples. She was getting too old for this shit. Once upon a time a tiny part of her had hoped for nothing more than a quiet life with Han and… and her son. But when it came down to it life never had those kinds of plans for her and right now it seemed that she was becoming an unofficial parent for more and more people.
She remembered the first time she had got in contact with Vi Moradi. The woman's snark, smarts and charm had won her over in moments, and Leia was always happy to hear from her. Yet that didn't stop Leia being a little bewildered as she surveyed the Resistance spy, a middle aged woman covered in old clothes, and little girl with bright eyes surround an ex-stormtrooper captain that lay in one of the medbays. It was an odd, almost macabre scene, and Leia could not miss the bits of red stormtrooper armour that lay in a pile near Vi's feet.
Captain Cardinal... of course Vi just had to go off and bring back one of the higher-ups in the First Order into the heart of the Resistance. There had been a furore over that. Vi had spent hours talking and pleading to the Resistance command that the man she had saved was good at heart, had been led astray by years of conditioning by the Empire and Brendol Hux.
From the grim stories Vi had told them, loyalty to the older Hux was what had tied Cardinal to the First Order, had been a pillar of his faith. But if what Vi said was true - and Leia did not doubt that it was - the machinations of the younger Hux and Captain Phasma had finally broken the man. Leia tried not to imagine her son in their midst, tried not to wonder how much of it he knew, how much of it he might have agreed with.
Vi was unwavering in her belief that Cardinal was worth redemption, had even told them his original name before Brendol had found him. Some of others had been displeased, telling Leia that supplies and resources were slim as they were to waste them on a First Order captain on the brink of death anyway.
But Leia quietly knew that giving the man a shot at life was something she needed to allow. She knew that if Cardinal - or should she call him Archex now? - could be redeemed then perhaps there was hope for Ben could return to her one day too. The thought made her throat seize up and Leia tried not to think too much about it.
"When will he wake?" Leia finally said. The two women and the girl turned to look up at her.
"We think he might be strong enough for us to pull him out of our medically induced coma this evening, General," said a medical droid.
Leia nodded, and walked forward to address the woman Vi had called Siv, the woman who had gone through hell and back because of Phasma.
"Won't you and your little girl rest?" asked Leia softly.
They had given the mother and child one of the quarters they could spare on the base, but as far as Leia knew neither of them had properly rested in them yet, instead choosing to stay by Cardinal's side.
"He is my patient," replied Siv quietly. "I would like to see through as much of his treatment as I can."
"But Torbi -" Leia began.
"She is learning from me," said Siv, and Leia was warmed by the smile in the mother's eyes. "She is clever."
Leia nodded, and met Vi's eyes. The older woman cocked her head to indicate that she'd like to speak to her outside, and then walked away until she was in the corridor. A few moments later Vi was standing beside her.
"Yes, General?" asked Vi curiously. Leia could see bags under her eyes and she worried that Vi had only had a few hours sleep since she had got to the base. The torture she had endured was nasty, and even though Leia had ensured Vi had been positively doused in bacta, she also knew that a few hours sleep was not enough to ensure that the healing was at its most effective.
"We will move him once he is conscious," said Leia, an apology in her voice. She held up a hand to get Vi to allow her to continue speaking. "I've talked my throat hoarse about him Vi, and the truth of the matter is that we still don't know where his allegiances lie. He might hate Captain Phasma and General Hux, but that doesn't mean he hates that he now hates the First Order too. Their conditioning programs are rigorous, and it'll take a long time for him to get it out of his system, if he even wants them out in the first place."
Vi opened her mouth to speak, but Leia carried on quickly.
"No, I agree with you, I want to give him a chance. But not at the expense of the safety of everyone else here."
"He'll be a prisoner," said Vi quietly. It wasn't a protest, but a statement.
"Until we're confident in him," Leia affirmed. "I'm sorry, Vi. But you need to understand - "
"I do," said Vi. "I thought this might happen and I want you to know that… well, I'd like to stay until a final decision has been made about him, after he's back on his feet and has made a choice."
"You once told me you were happy to help the Resistance, but never become a servant for us," said Leia, smiling. It was one of the first things Vi had said to her.
"And I still mean that wholeheartedly," Vi replied. "I'm not a solider, not a dog on a leash. Never have been, never will be. But I want to see this through. It's on me that he's here and it'd be pretty awful of me to discard him in your hands and fly off."
Leia saw Vi look around for anyone listening before continuing.
"Besides, he knows about my brother. He's one of the few that does. I'd like to know that the people who have that information aren't going to act on it. So I'll stay, not as your solider, but to see this through. I'll help here and there if you need me to. He said Phasma would be coming for Siv and Torbi, and I'd also like to make sure that doesn't happen."
Leia remembered this, and gently patted the young woman's arm.
"Okay, Vi," she said. "Okay. No funny business, mind you, but I trust you know what's right. You'll oversee him when they move him to one of the secure rooms?"
"Yes, with the med droid and whoever command deems needs to monitor him," said Vi resolutely, and she began to walk away, back to where Cardinal lay with Siv and Torbi still holding vigil. Vi turned at the doors. "Thank you, General."
Leia watched as Vi took her place by the others, and in that moment she was reminded why what she was doing was right.
The Resistance wasn't perfect, the people that believed in the cause weren't perfect. Hell, even the minutiae of their cause wasn't perfect. But she knew it represented hope, freedom and compassion. Leia saw that in the odd group of people that were huddled in the corner of the medbay. The spy, the outcast healer, the child and the First Order Captain that just might end up free of the people that had taken advantage of him when he was a starving child and brainwashed him into thinking that equality meant erasing identity.
Leia turned on her heel and walked away, giving them one last glance as she went. She hoped Vi was right: that there was hope for Siv and Torbi, and maybe even Cardinal too.