Chapter Three: Deneva's Loyalty
The Alliance leaders were monitoring their prisoner's cell, trying to decide her fate. It was plain that she was no ordinary pilot, but for all they knew she could be an Imperial spy, her being Denevan notwithstanding. As they watched, the woman suddenly sat up, awakening from what had been a deep sleep.
"This way!" she called as she led the little group through the palace. Behind her she could hear the sounds of blaster-fire: the Imperials were trying to fight past the Eagle's Talon, and succeeding only by sheer weight of numbers. As the four people entered the palace garden, her parents turned.
"Aliana, Pareus, go on. We shall remain behind." Her mother's voice was so calm, but Aliana refused to listen.
"No, you can't stay, they'll kill you! Father, please!"
"Aliana, you and your brother are our people's pride. Our time is over, but at least one of you must return to free Deneva. Go, child, we will give you time."
She felt her older brother pull her into one of the hedges just as the Imperials broke into the garden. Behind them walked a figure clad all in black: Vader, the Emperor's pet Sith Lord. Aliana watched as he approached her parents.
"Where are your children?" That voice was the sound of death itself, but Torinos Calion of Deneva stood firm beside his wife.
"They are safe, where you and your false Emperor will never find them."
Vader raised his hand, a shaft of light protruding from a cylinder in his hand. A moment later, the bodies of her beloved parents, the King and Queen of Deneva, tumbled to the ground.
"NOOO!!!!" Aliana cried out her grief and anguish, unable to contain herself. The stormtroopers turned and fired, while she and her brother fled. Stumbling as a stray shot caught her in the leg, she scrambled up and kept running…
Aliana woke suddenly, the memory screaming through her mind. Her nightmares were becoming more frequent, as if her parent's souls were crying out to her for justice. She felt the old throbbing in her leg, but banished the pain from her awareness. Mother, Father, I swear I will find justice, for you and for our people. As she thought this, she heard the sounds of a scuffle outside of her cell. A moment later, the containment field was lowered, and several Alliance soldiers filed in.
"My lady Aliana, we've come to set you free," one of them stated as he dropped into a bow. He was a younger man, with a head of tousled read hair. She knew him well, from happier days, but seeing him like this…
"Noran Murandos, what have you done?"
"Noran Murandos, what have you done?" The regal voice, laced with shock and anger, surprised the Alliance leaders as they watched the interchange.
"Milady, we came to free you. The Admiral had no right…"
"He had every right to imprison me, and you know it well! Or have you forgotten what you learned when you served with the Eagle's Talon? One never allows a stranger access to his assets, until he knows for sure that they are trustworthy."
"But to imprison you, Pr…"
"Quiet!" The woman who had called herself Coriana interrupted the young man. "The Empire must never know. Did it never occur to you why I used the name Coriana, rather than the name which is mine by right?"
"I didn't think about that." Noran Murandos looked shamefacedly at the floor, to the amusement of Admiral Ackbar, who had never seen the young man shamed by anything.
"Clearly not, otherwise you would also have remembered your duties to the Alliance. I thought you were taught better things than betrayal."
"My duty to Deneva…"
"Is intertwined with your duty to the Rebellion. Do you honestly think we would be able to free our world while the Emperor was still in power?" The woman shook her head. "And now you may have cost us all what hope we had."
"Forgive me, my lady."
"It's not me you should be asking pardon from. You know your duty, Lord Murandos." The woman's comment prompted a few raised eyebrows: the young man was nobility?
"I shall do what must be done. Forgive me, my lady." Noran Murandos bowed again and withdrew, the men behind him following.
"Who is she?" General Nadine demanded. Senator Mon Mothma bowed her head, realizing just who they held captive, and why the young officer had decided to free her.
"There's only one person it could be, but the Empire reported her to be killed."
"Who, Senator?" Ackbar questioned.
"Princess Aliana Calion of Deneva."