Disclaimer: Star Wars is the property of LucasFilm, everything related to Honor Harrington is the property of David Weber. No profit is being made nor is there the intent of making any profit from this story.
Please note that this story is un-beta'd. If you'd like to be a beta for this story, please message me.
This is basically an idea that's been rolling around my head for the last six months, and I'm using a bit of holiday time to have a proper go at it. Note that there are bits in the second part of the chapter that are copied from pages 102-104 of the Star Wars Omnibus.
"It'll be alright, Bail," said Queen Breha Organa of Alderaan with a smile.
Viceroy Bail Organa of Alderaan smiled back and, with effort, forced himself not to bounce on the balls of his feet as they waited on the landing pad. Having been a Senator for decades, he had learnt very early on how to control his body language. The fact that he was fidgeting in public was a sign of just how very nervous he was.
It took all of that control not to jump and whirl at the sound of a throat being cleared behind him. Instead, he merely turned and gave a pointed look at Frax Picus, the Chagrian Chair of the Department for Alien Development at Alderaan Planetary University. Frax gave a tight smile in return before opening his mouth to speak.
"You have a right to be nervous as well, Bail. You among all of us have more reason to be. Especially with that three-hundred-plus-ship fleet sitting up there."
Bail shrugged. "That might be so, I guess. But that makes it even more important that I appear less affected by my nervousness than your colleagues over there." He gestured at the other academics and diplomats milling about with an anxious energy a few meters away.
Frax accepted the point with a pair of raised eyebrows and he glanced at the contingent briefly. "Still, with at least twenty starships in that fleet approaching the size, if not the confirmed firepower of an Imperial Star Destroyer, I must say you appear more blasé about the fact than I'd expect."
"Humans are humans, Frax, and I've learned to be a good judge of character."
"Even through a language barrier?" The eyebrows went up again in mock-astonishment. Bail's response was another pointed look, which Frax accepted as an end-of-discussion gesture. He turned back to smile at Breha again before looking out to the sky beyond the landing pad and - again - suppressed the urge to bounce on the balls of his feet, as his thoughts turned back, briefly, to his headstrong adopted daughter and the mission she had taken on.
The faint sound of air-breathing turbines focussed everyone's attention as two sleek, almost-Nubian-looking landing craft descended out of the scattered clouds, their wings transitioning forward. The mutterings amongst the researchers grew as they considered the similar-yet-subtly-different designs and markings of the two aircraft and the group as a whole stepped back and began to turn away from the expected blast of hot gases as the landing craft began their final approach, wheeled landing gear dropping from their underbellies, but they were pleasantly surprised as the turbines throttled back to flight idle and their shriek was instead complemented by the thrum of what could only be repulsorlifts as the aircraft settled gently onto the landing pad.
Bail forced himself to put his daughter out of mind as the aircraft shut down and their hatches began to open. What was it that Ben kept on saying? "Focus on the here and now."
An armour-suited and blaster-carrying figure was the first person out of the left-hand craft, whilst there was a delay before a tall, fair man stepped out of the right-hand craft, wearing a black uniform with gold trim, at the same time a slim dark-brown woman with close-cropped hair stepped out of the left-hand craft, wearing a green top and grey trousers. As more uniformed people started exiting the aircraft, the two leaders stepped close to each other and had a quick, quiet conversation.
"Glad to see that their xenophobia doesn't extend to segregation within their own species," Frax muttered quietly as he watched humans of all varieties step onto the landing pad. Bail nodded slightly in agreement, then turned to Frax after observing for a few seconds more. "Don't you think some of them are a bit smaller than you'd expect?" he asked.
Frax opened his mouth but cut off his own reply as the group of humans started forward, and he stepped back towards the main group of academics, leaving Bail and Breha alone with a bronze protocol droid, L-4PO, as the tall man in black-and-gold and the slim woman in green-and-grey took the point position of the approaching group.
The visitors stopped with the leaders a few paces away and together the man and woman bowed slightly at the waist to Breha and Bail, who returned the bow but less deep. This wasn't recognised protocol in the galaxy, and Bail wasn't sure it was protocol in the visitor's culture, but as improvised as it was, it seemed to be working. Elfor made the initial introduction of Breha and Bail, before Bail took over.
"On behalf of our citizens and the Parliament of Alderaan and of His Most Imperial Majesty, I welcome you to our planet and to the greater Galactic Empire", Bail announced, steeping forward with an open hand as he did so. He would much rather have left off all the Imperial bits but since there was a holorecorder floating around somewhere, there was a likelihood that this would become public and the last thing he needed right now was to be seen snubbing the Emperor.
The tall man stepped forward to clasp Bail's hand firmly as Elfor completed the translation. "Vice-Admiral Sir Aviars Terekhov, commander, Joint Expeditionary Taskforce. Many thanks for your welcome, Viceroy," he responded. Releasing Bail's hand, he gestured to the woman on his left. "Vice-Admiral Helen Zachary, Taskforce second-in-command."
"Admiral," Bail said, taking the woman's proffered hand. Her grip was just as firm as Terekhov's. Once released, Bail raised a hand to stall the admiral's continued introductions. "Admiral, I can't help but notice the differences in uniform, which seem to imply that you belong to different organisations?"
There was a glance and a slight smile exchanged between Terekhov and Zachary once Elfor translated Bail's question, then Zachary stepped forwards. "Viceroy, our two groups actually belong to two completely separate star nations who were engaged in a bitter war until approximately five of our years ago. I and my crew in the green and grey come from the Republic of Haven, whilst Admiral Terekhov and his crew in the black and gold come from the Star Empire of Manticore."
This time Bail couldn't hide his surprise. "That's - quite amazing actually," he remarked. "And quite a testament to the professionalism of your two services, that you can turn from fighting each other to forming a joint expedition together to head into the wider galaxy after such a short time."
This time there were smiles amongst all the visitors once Elfor finished translating, and Terekhov and Zachary took a moment to savour the pride of their crew members. "I thank you for your kind words to all of us, Viceroy," Terekhov said. "It was a very long war, and only the emergence of a common enemy and purpose was able to unite us. We -"
He was interrupted by one of the much-smaller crew members appearing at his side with an urgent expression on her face. "A moment please, Viceroy," the Admiral said before starting a quick-but-quiet conversation with the junior officer. Bail leant a bit closer to Elfor. "Can you understand anything?" he murmured.
"Oh, yes, Master Organa", Elfor replied just as quietly - at least she had better discretion than See-Threepio. "It appears that the junior officer has just received a rather urgent communication from the orbiting vessels, and she -"
Elf broke off as Terekhov turned back to Bail and approached him, the junior officer in tow. "Viceroy, pardon the interruption, but we've picked up a rather large and… interesting ship arriving in-system." He gestured to the junior officer, who held out her hand, displaying the small holoprojector in it. "We are rather new to this part of the galaxy - perhaps you could reassure us by confirming if this type of vessel is common, and it makes regular visits to this system?"
Bail looked down at the image displayed by the projector - and felt his blood turn to ice. The image was of a sphere with a dark equatorial band and a dish-like depression on its upper hemisphere. He had to work his mouth to generate enough spit to talk- "How- how large is it? And how far away, in planetary diameters?"
"Its mass and dimensions approach that of a small moon, and it's about…" Terekhov tailed off as he did the mental maths, only to be provided the answer from one of his officers. "Approximately twenty times the diameter of Alderaan away."
We have time. Not much, but… Mind racing, Bail started looking around - at the academics and diplomats a short distance away, the formal guards surrounding them…
A light touch on his hand snapped him out of his thoughts. It was Breha, and she was looking into his face with fear and worry. "Bail? Is that it?" He could only nod his head in answer as Breha gasped in shock, and someone else snapped out a sharp word that he didn't quite catch…
It was Zachary, calling him before Elfor could translate, and she and Terekhov looked at him with consternation. "Viceroy, what is that vessel?"
There was along pause before Bail sighed. Nothing for it, then. "It's a battle station called the Death Star. It's the only one of it's kind and it probably has enough firepower to destroy this planet with a single shot."
The effect of the translation was electric on the visitors, as they all snapped to alertness. Which was all well and good, because as soon as Elfor completed the translation- "Battle station? Pardon me Viceroy, did you say battle station? With enough firepower to destroy Alderaan?!" Elfor exclaimed loudly, and gasps and mutters swept through the indigenous Alderaanians on the pad, mutters which rapidly grew louder as people quickly put two and two together. Frax Picus was closest to Bail and was by his side in a few strides.
"Bail-" he began.
"Frax, yes-" Bail started to reply, but by that time he was no longer in control.
The visitors were. The two taskforce commanders had quickly discussed their situation and were now rapidly issuing orders - one of which, it seems, was to grab everyone on the platform and start pushing them towards the landing craft.
"Bail, I have the utmost trust in you, that's been well-earned during our long friendship," Frax said as they were herded along the platform, "But we've only just been introduced to these people. Are you sure this is the right choice?" From the rumbles of agreement, some of the academics and diplomats were having the same thoughts.
"Frax, right now, this is the only choice if we want to have any hope of staying alive!"
His face mottled at Bail's pronouncement - the Chagrian equivalent of going pale. His mouth worked as thoughts raced through his head, before he latched onto one and spoke it out loud. "What about the rest of the planet?"
Bail winced at this. Officially, nobody on Alderaan should have knowledge of the Death Star, and to broadcast a planetary evacuation order would surely alert the Empire of a security breach and of the Rebel sympathies present on the planet. Briefly, Bail chose not to answer, operational security foremost in his mind-
"Bail, you've got to do it," Breha said. They were now in between the two landing craft, and there was obviously not enough room on either for the two of them to travel together, as Breha was being ushered towards the Republic of Haven craft whilst Terekhov had a strong grip on Bail's upper arm and was pulling him towards the Star Empire lander. "Bail, think of the lives you can save!"
That snapped him out of his funk, and as she stepped up to the hatch, he pulled out his comlink to show it to her. For a brief instant, her face lit up with a delighted smile, and she waved at him one last time before he was pushed into the craft and down into a seat. Terekhov settled down next to him, and he looked ahead to find that L-4PO had been placed opposite them, no doubt to facilitate continued dialog.
"Alright, Viceroy," Terekhov began, "I hope that is a communicator in your hand, which you will be using to issue an evacuation order?"
Bail nodded as the whine of the landing craft starting up grew louder. "I'll be asking the whole planet to evacuate."
"Good man", the admiral remarked. "Once you've done that, would you mind filling me in on the general political situation in this part of the galaxy? Take your time; my ships are breaking orbit now and we'll be pushing to catch up with them, so you'll have my complete attention."
He smiled at Bail as the aircraft lifted off the platform with a shudder. Bail gave him a half-smile back, then thumbed the activation stud on the comlink. "Citizens of Alderaan and visitors, this is Viceroy Organa speaking. I am ordering a planetary evacuation, effective immediately…"
Admiral Motti entered the quiet conference room, his face streaked by the linear lights lining the walls. His gaze went to the spot where Governor Tarkin stood before the curved viewscreen, and he bowed slightly. Despite the evidence of a small blue gem of a world entered on the viewscreen, he announced formally, "We have entered the Alderaan system. We await your order."
The door signaled and Tarkin made a falsely gentle gesture to the admiral. "Wait a moment yet, Motti."
The door slid aside and Leia Organa entered, flanked by two armed guards, followed by Darth Vader.
"I am -" Tarkin began
"I know who you are," Leia spat. "Governor Tarkin. I should have expected you to be holding Vader's leash. I thought I recognised your unique stench when I was brought on board."
"Charming to the last," Tarkin said in a tone that suggested that he was anything but charmed. "You don't know how hard I found it to sign the order for your termination tomorrow," he continued in mock-sorrow. "If you had only cooperated with our investigation, things might be otherwise. Lord Vader has informed us that your resistance to our traditional methods of enquiry -"
"Torture, you mean," Leia interjected, a trifle shakily.
"Let us not bandy semantics," Tarkin smiled.
"I'm surprised you had the courage to sign the order yourself," Leia hissed back.
With one gloved hand on the princess' slight shoulder, Darth Vader mentally tuned out the conversation, his attention switching instead to the viewscreen where the planet of Alderaan hung, glittering like a bauble in space. Reaching out with a tendril of the Force, he increased the magnification, so that the faint specks of starships travelling to and fro could be made out…
Well. That was interesting.
"No! You can't! Alderaan is a peaceful world, we have no standing armies. You can't…" Leia was protesting, and Vader switched his attention back to the conversation at hand.
Tarkin's eyes gleamed. "You prefer another target? A military target perhaps? We're agreeable…just name the system." There was a stubborn silence from the princess, and Tarkin sighed. "I grow tired of these games, Princess Organa. Where is your Rebel base?"
There was still silence from the princess, and through the Force, Vader could sense her rising anguish and turmoil as she gazed upon her homeworld. Then there was a sense of resignation and… strength? And something else besides…
Oho! Vader thought. He hadn't had such a day of pleasant surprises in a long time.
"Dantooine," Leia whispered. "They're on Dantooine."
"You lie."
Both Tarkin and the princess snapped up their heads at Vader's interruption, Leia's face twisting into an indignant expression as she began to protest but the Dark Lord rode roughshod over her objections. "Let us examine the planetary traffic," he said, waving a hand at the view screen. "It is all heading outbound. Including," he tweaked the view screen controls again with the Force, "some craft that were heading inbound when we arrived in-system. In fact, given the lack of organisation around the new departures," Vader continued, as he moved to face the princess, "I suspect that an order to evacuate the planet has been given. This station's existence has been a secret until now; it's arrival in-system should be no cause for alarm. So why should the population of a planet be fleeing our arrival," and his voice deepened further, "Unless someone knows about the existence and purpose of this station?"
Leia gaped at the Dark Lord in total shock as Tarkin gazed at the screen intently. "Do you wish to clarify your statement about Alderaan's civilian status?" Vader rumbled ominously.
"Governor…" Admiral Motti, heretofore standing discreetly to one side, stepped close to Tarkin and brought his attention to a portion of the screen. "Those signals there…"
Tarkin refocused his gaze, hand on chin in concentration, before stepping back with a satisfied sigh. "Well! Many thanks, Lord Vader, for bringing this to our attention." He nodded at Motti, who made the viewscreen zoom in on a cluster of signals that were just appearing from behind the planetary limb. "That there is a significant fleet of ships departing, Princess; warships, it appears. You remarked that Alderaan has no standing forces. What are we to make of this fleet of clearly non-Imperial origin, currently attempting to flee?"
Leia looked to Tarkin, to Vader and back to Tarkin again. "I…"
"As Lord Vader so succinctly stated, you have lied to us, Princess; several times, in fact. About the civilian status of your planet, about the knowledge your associates possess about this station and," Tarkin hissed, stepping closer to Leia so that she was forced backwards into the Dark Lord's broad armoured chest, "about the traitorous sympathies of your home world." He straightened, a broad, victorious smile emerging across his face. "Dantooine is too far away to be an effective demonstration in any case, Princess, however I do believe that the loss of Alderaan will not be mourned." He turned towards the viewscreen, only to quickly turn back and waggle a finger at the increasingly-horrified Leia. "But don't you worry, there will be ample time to deal with all your Rebel friends in due course. Admiral Motti, you may proceed when ready."
Admiral Motti came to attention before turning away and issuing orders into a comlink. Desperately, Leia lunged towards the Governor before being pulled back by Vader, and he savoured the fear and growing anger twisting within her. He would have to make a persuasive argument with Tarkin later to forestall her execution, but based on what he was feeling so far, it would be most worthwhile. The Force told him so.