It never got any easier, revealing the truth of her relationship with Vader. Mon obviously hadn't told the two General, out of respect for Leia's privacy. And Leia appreciated that. But there was a part of her that wished Mon had gone ahead and done it, just so that Leia could be spared the exercise.

Draven looked ever more thoughtful as Leia explained the revelation, and the events surrounding it. Hera looked increasingly sympathetic.

Once Leia was done, Draven said, "You utilized your leverage admirably, given the circumstances."

Hera nodded her agreement. "Vader wasn't the one who saved Alderaan, Leia. It was your quick thinking that saved your people."

Leia resisted the urge to squirm in her seat. "I understand that bringing him here is problematic, to say the least. But he has information that we just can't afford to waste." She wanted to ask them if it bothered them, that she was related to a monster. She wanted to ask if they could ever fully trust her again. But she didn't.

"You made the right call," said Hera. "As much as I hate the prospect of working with him in any capacity, he's privy to intelligence that could turn the tide of the war."

"We can't reveal his true identity, of course," said Draven. "Morale is low enough as it is. I have no doubt that we'd risk a mutiny if it was widely known that he was here as anything but a prisoner."

"And if we kept him here as a prisoner, there's no way he'd cooperate," said Hera.

Leia shuddered internally at the thought of Vader's presence becoming common knowledge. There would definitely be somebody angry enough to try and kill Vader if they discovered his true identity, and she didn't know if she could trust him to hold back if they did. She wasn't fond of lying to her own people, but she could see the necessity in this case.

At least she knew that nobody in their right mind would guess that Vader was actually Vader just by looking at him.

Hera sighed. "And he can't participate in any official operations. He should only act in the role of consultant."

"He's exceptionally skilled," Mon pointed out.

"And completely volatile," Hera countered. "Even if I thought he really was on our side — which I don't — I still wouldn't trust him not to be as careless with our people as he was with his own."

Leia remembered what Vader had said about sacrifices on the battlefield, and how he'd veered completely off-script when they'd been on Mustafar. "Hera's right," she said. "He's only here because he thinks it's his one shot at winning me over to his side. He promised me that he wouldn't use our soldiers as shields, or murder them for failure. But even if he held to that promise, I still think he would sacrifice them in other ways for the sake of his definition of victory. It wouldn't even matter if he had formal command or not."

The Alliance made sacrifices, of course. Rogue One had all been lost in their efforts to retrieve the Death Star plans. But that had been their choice. Vader considered one's mere participation in a military organization to be tacit consent to any and all eventualities — including certain death — regardless of the actual opinions of those involved.

Mon sighed as well. "Yes, of course you're correct." She smiled ruefully. "I was being self-indulgent, imagining how cathartic it would be to use one of the Empire's greatest weapons against them."

Draven stroked his chin. "Do you suppose he's telling the truth about the Emperor?"

"I think he is," said Hera. "I'm no expert on the Force, but I was around Jedi for a long time. Based on what Kanan told me about the Dark Side and the Sith, his story checks out."

Leia said, "I believe him as well." She shifted in her seat. "Bear in mind, he doesn't take issue with the Empire's brutality. But his callousness is based in pragmatism — or, at least, his twisted understanding of pragmatism. All he cares about are results, and the results of some of the Empire's policies have fallen short of his standards."

"Yet he lacks the self-awareness to see how his own behavior fed into this alleged agenda," Draven noted.

"He's a walking mass of half-baked rationalizations and religious zealotry," Leia said. "I think he's convinced himself that everything he's done, no matter how evil, was a necessary part of the Force's grand cosmic plan." She gave a small grimace. "He's very fond of the word 'destiny'."

"I suppose it says something that he has such rationalizations in the first place," said Draven.

"He's not a psychopath," Leia confirmed. "I can give him that much credit. Though that's cold comfort for the loved ones of the countless people he's murdered." She looked at Hera. "Both directly and indirectly."

Hera frowned. "Very indirectly, in the case of Kanan. If anything, Thrawn is the one to blame."

"Yet he takes responsibility for it," said Draven.

"'Credit' is probably the more accurate word," said Hera, bitterly. Her expression darkened still further. "If he steps out of line…"

"We kill him," Leia said. Something in her belly squirmed uncomfortably at the thought, but she resolutely ignored it. "I'll do it myself, if I have to."

The momentum of the discussion came to an abrupt slowdown, which prompted Mon to ask, "Do we have consensus regarding these conditions?"

Leia, Hera, and Draven all answered in the affirmative.

Mon stood. "In that case, you're all dismissed for now. But you'll need to be ready to mobilize at any time." She looked at Leia. "I trust you will make our conditions plain to our guest."

"Of course," Leia said, then made her way to the door.

Hera caught up with her there. "Will you join me in my quarters? Just for a few minutes, I promise."

Leia was anxious to track down Vader, but didn't have the heart to refuse such a simple request.

When they arrived at Hera's quarters, there was a teal-skinned Twi'lek woman awaiting them. The high-pitched sound of crying, and the crib beside her, made it clear that there was also a baby involved. "Thank goodness," said the woman, when she caught sight of Hera. "He's been getting fussy. Nothing I do seems to calm him."

"No worries, Numa," said Hera, walking over to the crib. "You're off the hook for now. Zeb agreed to look after him during my next shift."

"I will be going, then," said Numa. She gave the baby one last stroke on his head before leaving the room.

Hera picked up the crying infant, kissed his forehead, and held him up against her shoulder, gently bouncing her body. He quieted almost immediately. "There we go," she cooed. "See, Jacen? Mama's here."

Leia almost asked if it was safe to keep such a young infant on the base, but thought better of it. With a Jedi for a father and a Rebel general for a mother, this was probably the only safe place for him in the entire Galaxy.

"How old is he?" she asked instead.

Hera smiled gently. "He's going on three months, now."

That was insane. "And you're already back on duty?"

"The Death Star doesn't really leave open the option for maternity leave," Hera noted with dry humor.

"No," Leia agreed, her throat tightening. "I guess it doesn't."

Jacen made a noise of discontent, which prompted Hera to reach for the bottle inside his crib. But when she pushed the silicone nozzle against his mouth, he screwed up his little face and jerked his head away. Hera chuckled, putting the bottle back in the crib.

"It's amazing how well they can communicate without any words," said Hera, shifting his body so that he was now facing Leia fully, and slipping her arm beneath him in order to support his chest with her hand. Then, placing her other hand on his back to make sure he was fully secured, she began to rock him back and forth. "He's already a little thrill-seeker. The one way he really takes after me." Leia could see what Hera meant. His thin mop of hair had the hint of a green tint, and there was green pigmentation around his ears. But he definitely favored his father in terms of looks. "This is the closest thing he'll get to flying for a while."

Jacen let out a delighted squeal, his mouth spreading in a toothless smile. Leia felt something warm spreading inside her, along with a peculiar kind of melancholy.

"He's beautiful," Leia said, feeling suddenly as though she wanted to cry. She quashed the impulse ruthlessly.

"Do you want to hold him?"

Leia swallowed past the lump in her throat. "I wouldn't want to interrupt."

"Don't be silly," Hera said, walking over and holding him out. The moment Leia reached out to take him, though, his smile fell away, and his bottom lip began to tremble.

Hera grimaced apologetically. "I guess he just really wants some mommy time."

Leia couldn't decide if she was relieved or disappointed. Hera resumed her rocking, more gently this time — an action intended to soothe rather than entertain.

Once Jacen's eyelids began to droop, Hera said, "I asked you here because I feel like there's something you need to hear." She looked Leia straight in the eye. "Never forget that we don't choose our parents. You are your own person. And if Bail were here, I know that he would have nothing but pride in that person."

"I'll try my best to keep that in mind," Leia said, averting her gaze as that awful lump returned to her throat.

From the way Jacen's eyes were closed, and how his chubby little limbs were flopping around, Leia could tell he'd fallen asleep. Moving very carefully, Hera lowered him back down into the crib, then covered him with a blanket. "Another thing that I think you should know," said Hera, straightening. "One of the people who delivered the Death Star plans is named Luke Skywalker. He has a lightsaber."

Leia felt a jolt of shock. "Do you think it's a coincidence?"

"It could be. But...I'm pretty sure that Vader used to go by the name Skywalker. He's older now, but he's definitely the same person that I saw in one of Kanan's old training holocrons. And if there's one thing Kanan taught me, it's that the Force works in mysterious and sometimes frightening ways."

Leia remembered something that Rex had said. "Didn't the holocron belong to Ahsoka?"

Hera blinked in surprise. "Technically, yes — after Kanan gave it to her." Her expression shuttered. "This must be hitting Ahsoka hardest of all. I accidentally walked in on her, once, when she was watching it. The look in her eyes..." Hera sighed. "You could tell that he meant the Galaxy to her."

Leia's mouth twisted. "Vader has much to answer for."

Hera approached Leia and drew her in for a hug. It was a surprise, because they weren't especially close, but Leia reciprocated. It felt good. Like, for just a moment, she was safe again.

When Hera pulled back, she said, "I won't keep you any longer. May the Force be with you."

Leia needed to find this Luke Skywalker; it was something that she was absolutely certain of.

Of course, there was a chance that it meant nothing. Maybe Skywalker was a common name on whichever planet Vader came from. And even if Luke was a relative, it didn't mean he was a close relative. Maybe there was an entire clan of Skywalkers somewhere out there in the Galaxy.

The thought felt wrong, though. And she really wished it didn't.

She started with the most obvious place: the mess. Without bothering to be discreet, she called out: "Is anyone here named Luke Skywalker?"

"He went to the dorms," said Cara Dune, approaching Leia with her customary swagger. Leia had made it her business to know the names of all the Alderaanians in the Rebellion. "Darklighter knows which room he's in."

"Thank you, Cara," said Leia, turning to leave.

Cara grabbed her by the wrist. Gently, but firmly. "Just so you know, things are heating up back home." Leia looked back at her. Cara's face was a mask of her usual affected nonchalance. "We're gonna take revenge for what the Empire did the Queen and the Viceroy. Show them what us timid Alderaanians can really do when we're pushed too far."

The words ramped Leia's nerves up to new heights. It was good that people were getting riled up, and it made sense. Breha and Bail had both been very popular with their people. But that kind of violent resentment could do more harm than good if it lacked direction.

And Leia knew that it would fall to her to provide that direction, even if she couldn't take the throne in a formal capacity. The reality of it was daunting.

Right now, she could only deal with one thing at a time. "First we'll make sure that the Empire can't destroy any planet that becomes too unruly," she said, extricating her wrist.

Cara gave her an unnerving smirk. "Just point me at the Imperials I need to kill, Your Highness."

Leia gave her a jerky nod, then left the mess. She was met with another obstacle in the corridor, however.

"Hey, you!" a male voice called out to her. Leia wanted nothing more than to ignore him, but his strides were much larger than hers. Soon enough, he was standing in front of her, blocking her path. He was handsome, in a scruffy kind of way. He looked like the sort of scoundrel who would dine and dash at a cheap cantina. "You're the one from the message."

Leia frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "Which message?"

"The one you recorded on that crazy Artoo unit," said the man. He thumped himself on the chest. "Name's Han Solo, and I was promised payment for delivering that damn thing to Alderaan. The thing is, I already did that — plus a bunch of extra stuff that almost got me killed — and I'm still waiting for my credits. I didn't sign up to hang around a Rebel base!"

Leia had absolutely no patience for this. "And why do you think that I have anything to do with this?"

"Because you're clearly someone important."

Leia scoffed at him. "Rest assured, Solo: you'll receive your due. But your love of money is of secondary importance to the fate of the entire Galaxy, so you will have to be patient."

With that, she shoved him out of her way, paying no heed to his outraged sputtering.

Vader didn't know how long he sat there, precisely. After the third time asking if Vader was alright, and then if Vader would move — only to be ignored — Luke had given up and relocated to another bed. He had fallen asleep soon after.

It was not an act of trust, Vader knew, but a testament to the boy's sheer exhaustion. His hand was curled protectively around the lightsaber at his hip in a way that confirmed he wasn't entirely naive. Indeed, he probably hadn't even intended to fall asleep.

It gave Vader the opportunity to study his face. The youthful, delicate features.

Leia resembled their mother far more than her brother did. And while there was much of their grandmother in Leia, she manifested far more strongly in Luke.

Suddenly, he sensed Leia approaching — as if she'd been summoned by the thought. And, sure enough, his daughter strode into the room within moments, exuding a cocktail of volatile emotions into the Force.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded. The words were not delivered delicately, and yet Luke didn't so much as stir.

"The boy is strong in the Force," Vader said. "He is also in possession of my old lightsaber."

"And that's why you're watching him sleep?"

Vader lacked the energy to roll his eyes. "He claims that the saber belonged to his father."

Leia stiffened. "Did it?"

"Yes," Vader said, the word rasping uncomfortably from his throat.

Leia's emotions reached a crescendo in the Force, even as her expression became uncharacteristically blank. "Follow me to my quarters," she said. "We need to have a private discussion."