"Han… I'm going to need you to take Talon and I to Hapes in the morning." Leia told her husband as she got in bed.
"Is there a reason she can't stay here?" Han asked curiously.
"Yes, there is… a very serious reason. Talon is trying to memorize every rule and every bit of information she's given. Knight Razelle gave Talon a datapad loaded with a complete version of galactic history on it the other day. She's convinced that Talon has been trying to memorize the entire thing!" Leia replied.
"I 'm not sure I understand this right. How is that bad?" Han asked in confusion.
"She doesn't play any games or do anything for leisure! All she does is study and train." Leia answered in exasperation.
"Okay… Luke is super serious an' everything, but even he's not that bad!" Han quipped. "He's not very good at it, but he'll at least try to crack a joke or two."
"And Talon won't. To be honest, I'm not sure she knows how." Leia said with a shake of her head. "She's even stated that jokes get you killed."
"Okay… so she needs to be somewhere besides the Temple . So why Hapes?" Han asked interestedly.
"Because Hapes has a much lower population than Coruscant and we won't have to live like paupers while we're there." Leia replied candidly.
"That means you plan to stay at the palace with Tenel?" Han asked.
"Yes… I do." Leia said firmly. "Talon needs to learn that she's not blaster fodder! The servants in Tenel's palace will help see to that by offering to take care of her needs. I think that might help at least a little, but I can't be sure. What do you think?"
"I don't know. I do know that kid's really attached to you though." Han answered seriously.
"I know. That's something that I really need to work on." Leia mused aloud as she got in bed.
BREAK
When the wake up chime sounded, Talon roused from her rather peaceful slumber. Even though she didn't have other Fighters to curl up with and share body heat to stay warm, she slept soundly and stayed perfectly comfortable. If she had any dreams, they weren't anything she remembered when she woke.
Getting dressed took a few minutes, but Talon was ready for the day rather quickly. Trailed by Arfour, she went to the cafeteria where she was one of the first people there. Being among the first dozen of so, she was able to place an order with a service droid. Once the cafeteria filled up, those same droids would be busy cleaning up the used dishes and spills along with preparing trays for those who would end up using the line.
Although vacant when Talon sat down, the table quickly filled with the other members of Green Wing. Each had their droid standing close by. The conversations were light and just a touch sluggish because not everyone was fully awake.
Talon looked up as her Master entered the cafeteria and proceeded over to the serving line. The oil she'd been using had almost completely worn off and she was aware of too much that was going on around her. That didn't matter as much now, because her Master was here.
'Talon, after you finish eating, I want you to go to your quarters and gather up everything that belongs to you, and that includes your training weapons. We'll be leaving shortly after that, because we'll be going to another world.' Leia sent over her Bond with the girl as she approached the table.
'Yes Master Leia. I'll be ready.' Talon replied without pausing in her eating.
"Look! It's the Master of the best duelist in the galaxy!" Crystal exclaimed loudly. "Come join us Master Solo."
Leia couldn't help but smile at the enthusiastic greeting from the grey Twi'lek. She placed her tray down on the table and looked around at the other occupants as she sat down.
"What's the agenda for today, Master Solo?" Deilaani asked brightly.
"Han and I will take Talon to Hapes for at least a few weeks. I want her to start relaxing once in a while." Leia answered.
"That won't happen here. She studies too much." Pleena said sourly.
"I don't think she knows how to do anything else!" Teilaan exclaimed as she chimed in.
"I don't think she does either Teilaan. That's why I'm taking her to Hapes. She won't have any classes, so she'll have to figure out something else to do with her time. Hopefully… she'll end up with a hobby or something." Leia responded.
"You will be bringing her back though… right?" Selar demanded worriedly.
"Yes, I will. Eventually, but I'm not sure it will be anytime soon." Leia answered before she took a bite of her breakfast.
"Well… whenever she does come back, she'll still have her spot in Green Wing. We'll be under strength without her, but she stays on the roster." Chargon declared firmly.
"Absolutely!" Selar agreed.
"I guess this means I'm out too, doesn't it?" Pleena asked in a soft depressed voice.
"Not a chance! You're stuck with us!" Vara said sternly.
Selar started laughing. "Say that again Vara… make her believe it this time!"
Pleena looked around the table in shock. She knew she wasn't very good in the flight simulators, and probably wouldn't be for quite some time. "Won't I bring your stats down?"
"Sure… until you learn… and you won't learn unless you practice. You can't practice if you aren't part of a wing. So you stay with us. Besides… you've shown that you're willing to listen to those who know what to do. That ISD you destroyed proved that! Listen to Greeny, and you'll be flying like the rest of us soon enough." Selar smirked.
"So I'm still on the team?" Pleena asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, Green Eleven. You're still on the team, so live with it!" Krenn stated maliciously.
"Leave off Krenn! If we were any other team, she'd have a reason to be worried. You know she'd get ejected from the team, we know it, and she knows it too!" Chargon said sternly before turning to face the young Nautolan.
"Look Pleena, your lack of skill doesn't matter to us right now. Someone your age could fly better than Master Skywalker, but if they're as dumb as a rancor, then they won't be on this team! We'd rather have intelligence and skill. You've shown that you have the intelligence, and we can make sure you learn the skill. We've seen that you're smart enough to learn, you just need time. Selar told you before, we look out for each other, in and out of the simulators. I told you that you are a part of our family now, Pleena. We didn't ask you to be a temporary member of this team… you were asked to be a permanent part of it! We stick together, because we're family now." Chargon told her seriously.
Pleena stared at the red head in utter astonishment. She would have sworn that with her friend Talon leaving, that she would then be cast aside for someone better, but that wasn't happening. All of the team members agreed that she was to stay on. It was far more than she had dared to hope for, and meant far more than she knew how to express. As she sat there staring around the table, she began to understand just why Chargon called the team her brothers and sisters, because she was beginning to feel that way too.
BREAK
As Talon walked up the boarding ramp of The Millennium Falcon, she was followed by Arfour and the four Destroyer droids that had been roaming around the temple. It was readily decided by unanimous agreement that they should go to Hapes and serve the Royal family there. Every member of Green Wing had presented her with a gift of some kind. She now had in her possession several holo projectors loaded with the faces of her friends and messages from them.
"Talon, place your packs on the floor and have a seat near the dejarik table. Han and I are going to fly the ship." Leia instructed as she headed to the cockpit.
It took a few minutes to receive clearance to proceed to orbit, but that was because there was always a high volume of traffic entering and leaving the Coruscant system. Leia and her husband knew that everything had to be imported from other worlds. The population was simply far too high for any single planet to support even one thousandth of the population that Coruscant had. Both breathed a sigh of relief when they entered hyperspace.
Suddenly Han's face wrinkled in utter disgust as he caught a truly revolting stench. "Chewie, how many times do I have to tell you not to open those with the ramp closed?" He yelled.
"Wait… Chewie's been dead for years." Han muttered softly before jumping up and bolting for the lounge with his wife hot on his heels.
Leia was horrified to see Talon raising one of Chewbacca's infamous 'Nerf Bits' to her mouth. "Talon don't eat that!"
Talon was confused by that instruction. Master Leia had told her several times that she could eat what she wanted. "Why?"
"Because those are several years old and they've got to be spoiled by now!" Han blurted loudly.
"Han stop yelling at her! That isn't going to help right now." Leia said to her husband before turning back to Talon.
"Talon you can't eat those because they're old and out of date." Leia said as she explained.
"If those don't kill you, they'll sure make you really sick." Han added seriously. "Where did you get those anyway?"
"The package was between the cushions of the seats." Talon answered softly.
"Close the package back up, and we'll put it in the incinerator when we get to Hapes." Leia ordered calmly.
"Oh no we won't!" Han said firmly. "That's going out the airlock!"
"Did Talon eat any of those?" Leia asked the Barabel calmly.
"No. She did not." Saba Sebatyne had remained silent up to this point because she was simply observing things. The Barabel Master wanted to see how Leia and Talon interacted with each other. More specifically, she needed to see how Talon acted towards Master Solo. What she had seen so far raised a few questions, but no real concerns. Her former student had told her how Talon seemed to be obsessed. She knew that nothing good would come of such a thing if it were true.
'Talon… I know I told you that you could have what you want to eat, but that package is really dangerous because it's too old, and the contents are likely spoiled. I'm not letting you eat that because I don't want you getting sick or killed.' Leia sent across their Bond in explanation.
A series of beeps, whistles, and buzzes were heard as Arfour stated something in Binary.
"Master Leia said that it might be." Talon answered plainly.
"What did Arfour tell you Talon?" Leia asked calmly.
"She said it was more than two years out of date and since the package was already open, that it's contaminated." Talon replied.
"I would say Arfour is right… as usual. You really should listen to her Talon, because she's only telling you things to help you." Leia said to Talon honestly.
"Yes, Master Leia." Talon replied as she held out the bag of food.
Saba narrowed her eyes as she watched in silence. What she could sense in the Force was not necessarily a bad thing, but it wasn't very good either. She could feel Talon's almost overwhelming love for the human woman resonating through the Force. She knew that Talon's love for Leia needed to be mitigated somehow, but she had no ideas of how to accomplish that.
When Master Leia and Master Han had returned to the cockpit, Talon looked at Arfour while she thought about the droid. So far, Master Leia had agreed with everything the droid had told her. Master Leia had told her several times now that she needed to listen to and follow the instructions of the droid. She knew that Arfour was concerned about her because the droid was making sure that she followed the instructions of both Master Leia and Master Cilghal.
Retrieving the datapad loaded with galactic history, Talon began reading where she'd left off. She would freely admit that it was interesting to her and she knew that it had to be true because it was far more inclusive than what she'd been taught by Darth Magus. Every planetary occurrence that had any type of influence on galactic events was detailed. Some of the events did not seem that important by themselves, but they'd had far-reaching consequences.
A fairly recent example that caught her attention was the invasion of Naboo by the Trade Federation. Taken by itself, the event seemed to have little significance on the galactic scale of things. However, that event had resulted in a vote of 'No Confidence' in Chancellor Vallorum and that had allowed Senator Palpatine to be elected to the position of Chancellor. Because Palpatine was also Darth Sidious, that seemingly small event had resulted in galaxy wide consequences for many years.
Talon looked up as Master Leia entered the lounge where she was sitting.
"We've dropped out of hyperspace, so we'll be landing soon. Talon, I need you to gather your things so we can disembark." Leia said casually.
"Yes Master Leia." Talon answered as she stood up, put her datapad in her satchel, and walked over to where she had placed her training staves.
Talon picked up her training weapons and quickly noticed that Arfour was right behind her, along with the four Destroyer droids. Felling the very slight thump of the ship setting down, she moved to the exit ramp of the vessel. She sensed the added presences of Master Sebatyne, Mister Solo, and Master Leia, along with the protocol droid that Master Leia called 'Threepio', although Mister Solo called him 'Goldenrod' for some reason, even though his designation was actually C3-PO. She understood why Master Leia called him as she did, because that was a shorter version of his designation. She hadn't asked why Mister Solo referred to him as 'Goldenrod' though, so she didn't understand that one.
Master Leia disembarked first after lowering the ramp, and Talon let everyone else leave before she followed. She saw that the ship was in a very large room with the outside visible. Talon blanched upon seeing that and turned her attention to everything… anything else!
There were several women standing in a group watching them. Eight of the women were wearing skintight attire that would allow them to move freely and carried weapons that enabled them to fight. Talon could feel a tense wariness from each of them. The final two were a woman who stood at the center of the group watching them expectantly, and a much younger girl standing next to her and was slightly taller than she was. She knew from what she'd been told by Master Leia that these last two were Tenel Ka, the Queen Mother, and Alana, the Chumeda of Hapes.
