It was a bit overwhelming to be surrounded by so many royal people and Luke wondered if it still irked Han, too. After getting dressed for the day, the Organas' chauffeur Valden drove them to the House Thul royal palace. They were meeting with all the other royal Alderaanian houses including the Cortesses (Prince Gram's own family), Aryn and Bornan Thul and their parents, and Heeth, Raal, and the other Panteers. The Organas were led, by one of House Thul's servants, upstairs to a conference room where the others were already waiting. As only proper, Leia took Han to the front of their group to greet the other houses and Luke, being of the lower class, hung back and bowed to them. Leia was nice enough, though, to invite him to sit with her and Han. "As an equal," she'd said to the other nobles. "Luke Skywalker is an incredible asset to the Rebellion and he informs me that he has discovered a way to defeat the Empire's latest threat, the Death Star." Then, she turned a sharp look on him and Luke knew how horrible it would be if his plan was filled with holes or completely unrealistic all together. Leia sat down and nodded him on. Luke slowly rose to address the royal families. Relax,he told himself. These people need help. Keep a clear head, tell them what you need to say, talk it out. These are nice people. Just relax and talk.

"First, let me thank you all for receiving me. I understand what that means when I hold no rank. I want to help you all and I believe I have found a way to deal with the Emperor and Lord Vader's Death Star." See? That wasn't so bad! By the way, nice job not wincing and tripping over Vader's name, Luke silently congratulated himself. He's not your father. AnakinSkywalker is.

Luke took out the projection of the superweapon and displayed it for the Alderaanians. "As you know, these are the schematics and plans for the Death Star, seemingly indestructible, but not quite. See the indent in the middle. That trench is the only way to the core of the weapon. Its core is its own main reactor. If we can set the main reactor off, we'll destroy the D-"

"That's impossible!" Princess Elsie Cortess snorted, glaring at the holo. "Running intothat weapon? They'll kill us!"

"Wait," Bail held up a hand to quiet Elsie. "Luke, how do you propose we do this?"

"Well, it only makes sense to fly in with X-Wings. If we take a squadron in to set off the main reactor while a fleet plays defense-"

"That's suicide!" This time, the objection came from Leia. "The squadron wouldn't make it. They'd have to be too close to the reactor when they set it off. Couldn't we just launch an attack on the Death Star?"

"That would cost the Rebellion too much of its resources," Bornan said, shaking his head. He sat between Aryn and his parents, holding Aryn's hand in his. "The station's build is too strong for a possible attack. We wouldn't stand a chance. We don't enough missiles, bombs, and other weapons to even try that."

"Say we did try carrying out Luke's idea," Han said, sitting back in his seat, staring thoughtfully at the Death Star. "Theoretically, couldn't we pull it off and survive if we had a fast enough ship? Hit the reactor and just go flying past. We wouldn't even stop to make the hit. Just keep going."

"General Solo," Prince Thieron frowned at the Corellian. He still carried a grudge against the man for 'ruining' his House's deal with the Organas and foiling Gram's proposal to Princess Leia. Although, Gram had apologized to Leia for what had happened and there were no hurt feelings among any of the princes who had proposed to Leia. However, their families felt differently. "I don't suppose you know of a ship that fast? To survive such an explosion?!"


So, this was Luke's idea, Leia thought as she considered every fine detail of the plan in her head. Like many of the other nobles, Leia could think of a few holes in her brother's plan, but she was still proud of him for the idea. She could tell that, despite how many issues Luke hadn't yet thought up ways to fix, he had still done his homework and put quite a bit of thought into his plan. If only it weren't so unlikely to work. Leia tried to think of any quick fixes that would help, but Bornan had a point. The Rebellion wasn't ready to face such a threat.

"Say we did try carrying out Luke's idea," Leia heard her husband respond as he sat back and considered. "Theoretically, couldn't we pull it off and survive if we had a fast enough ship? Hit the reactor and just go flying past. We wouldn't even stop to make the hit. Just keep going."

"General Solo," Prince Thieron gave him a frown and almost snorted at the mere idea. He and Han weren't exactly friends and it annoyed Leia that the elder noble couldn't hold back his disgust just for one meeting. "I don't suppose you know of a ship that fast? To survive such an explosion?!"

As soon as the words left Thieron's mouth, jumped off his tongue, Leia knew what Han had to be thinking. And she didn't like it. Still, she kept her patience, waiting for Han to respond, waiting to be wrong, so she hoped. A glint came to Han's eye and he flashed his famous grin at Thieron as he prepared to answer back. "I may know a ship," he began, his smile turning into a wide beam. Leia's insides turned to mush. Her heart fell to the floor and she wanted to scream at him before he could even explain to everyone else. "Her name's the Millennium Falcon."

"No!"

Everyone around the table jumped at the sound of Leia's urgent yell, but, perhaps, she was most surprised by herself. A feeling that oddly resembled something like fear grabbed hold of her, holding her by her shoulders, forcing her to watch it all unfold. A sensation hit her, one so strong Leia could seeit. The image was too vivid and it overcame Leia. The blood. It was everywhere. The stench of death hung so heavily in the air, it stung Leia's eyes. Or, maybe that was the tears that were now falling unbidden down her face. The sensation of holding Han in her arms suddenly came and faded just as quickly and Leia used that fear as she tried to sway her husband.
Alarmed, Han asked her, "What?"

"I said no," Leia repeated, her voice shaking. "You can't go. I won't let you."

"Leia, what else are-"

"No! Han, that's suicide!" she screamed at him, urgent, afraid, tormented by her vision. Why wouldn't he just listen to her and trust what she was telling him? "No ship is that fast! You can't go! You aren't going to leave me like that!"

"What?" Confused, Han frowned, but Thieron was quick to carry on with the conversation.

"Someone needs to set off that reactor. Is there any other way?" He looked to Luke.

The poor kid went white and he struggled to stutter off his answer. "Uh, um, not that I can see, no." He said it with regret, his heart heavy, his face pale, and his mouth dry with guilt. "That's the only way."

"And that's assuming we don't have to deal with a shield!" Thieron burst. Gram, Raal, Heeth, and Bornan all exchanged a long look as they took this in. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Bornan spoke up. "I understand the risk," he said, smoothing out his purple and gold jacket for the purpose of busying his worried hands. "And I understand how awful it would be to send a loved one to their death, but I also understand the needs of our people and we cannot hesitate to do what we must in these desperate times. We find ourselves faced with the ultimate dilemma: take this risk and potentially save our world. . . . Or await our destruction. And I will not sleep easy having so many deaths on my conscience. We must make the difficult decision and do what we can to save our home. We have no other choice. We must send someone in."


Han and Leia both looked to each other at the same moment and Han was startled to find himself staring into irises darker than he had ever seen on his wife. Her usually brown eyes were dark with what appeared to be grief, but he couldn't fathom why she would be feeling that. Today, she seemed almost moody, edgy, like her hands were gripping the sides of her chair in fear. Everything seemed to set her off and Han didn't know how to handle the bomb.

It was only when a little color came to her cheeks that Han realized how pale she'd gone as well. Her lips trembled and she slowly tore her gaze from him. Then, just as suddenly as she continuously went off today, Leia got up from her chair. "Excuse me," she quickly spit out, hurrying to leave. "I'm not feeling well."

Han looked to Luke, hoping for an answer, but the kid only shrugged before dismissing himself from the meeting as well and rushing off in the direction his sister had gone.


Luke took off at a run, following his Force instincts to find his sister. It wasn't long before he found himself standing in front of the door to the women's refresher. Luke gave a Corellian curse he'd learned from Han before opening the door and going in. He was quickly greeted by the sound of retching, vomit sloshing as it hit the 'fresher bowl's water. Luke bent over and cautiously peered under each stall, looking for Leia's black wedged shoes. He found them and stopped outside the stall. "Leia," he called to her. "Leia, are you okay, sis?"

"Luke, I'm fine. Just go back to the meeting. Please."

"You don't sound fine," Luke insisted, even interrupted by the sound of Leia gagging, then throwing up again. Luke took a small step back and held his hand out to the stall door. Using the Force, Luke imagined the lock on the other side of the door. He found it, mentally grasping it in his hand. Then, he gave it a good shake and the lock responded by jiggling until it unlocked with a click and Luke swung the door open to kneel behind Leia and hold her long, thick hair back.

After a while, Leia stopped vomiting and she fell back in her brother's arms, crying and shaking. Luke just held her, unsure of what to do. Unsure of what to say. Their recent brother-sister issues seemed to vanish as Leia showed no signs of discomfort with Luke holding her to him. He gently rubbed her back and rocked her, reaching keep into the Force and futilely truing to take some of Leia's emotional pain for her, but she wouldn't let him in. "I don't want him to leave," Leia cried and sobbed while Luke held her. "I don't want him to die."