Chapter 54 - Last Hope
The mission to Herdessa was a success, in large part due to Mara. Leia had been busy pretending to be the Alderaanian Princess, and negotiating through the lies the upper class guild members were feeding her. Meanwhile Mara met a group of servants who only needed a few small pushes to rebel, and gave them such. They were tired of their fellow citizens being kidnapped and sold into slavery, and tired of the official hypocracy denying such was happening. In the end, the Rebel Alliance took the guild leaders into custody and the youngling Jimnii's mother and brother were freed from slavery, along with many others.
Bail actually was very impressed with the strategy they used to keep Mara safe. So much so that he ordered them to use it again a few weeks later to attend a summit on Chandrila.
Mara still had a tendency to slip away from her 'learning opportunities,' and go do other things, but she and her father must have developed an understanding. If she took Leia with her, she wouldn't get in trouble. Thus Leia was used to the day's itinerary being thrown through a wormhole at a moment's notice.
A whole year later, after Leia had turned nineteen, and Mara seventeen, Leia stood on the bridge of their ship as they rode through hyperspace.
"Oh hello Mara. I didn't expect to see you here," Donael greeted. "We're almost about to reach our destination."
"I know. I just got curious and wanted to see the place for myself." said Mara.
Leia had learned to pay very close attention to the clothes Mara wore, and what she carried, as often when she planned on doing a split she wore a lavish dress no one could think to run in, and she carried a bag with another outfit along with her. On this day, Mara carried no bag and wore a casual outfit she'd often worn to the ship's gym to do physical training in.
When their ship dropped out of hyperspace and the autopilot disengaged, Donael looked frantically between the ship's computers and the viewscreen window. "Where are we? This isn't Bothan Space!"
As the technicians began running calculations and error checks, Mara just stood there with a smile on her face.
"Where are we?" Leia asked her casually.
"Scarif. My sister, Winter, heard a rumor that something was going down here, but father refused to let her get involved. I wanted to see what the fuss was about."
Leia turned to look at the view window. Evidence of a great space battle and numerous dead ships were floating beside their ship. Leia deemed they were lucky. They'd managed to drop out of hyperspace in between a dead cruiser and another floating hunk of junk, close enough to hide them from the empire's sensors, and far enough away to avoid a collision.
"I'm picking up an incoming transmission from the surface. Rebellion codes." Aretti announced from the comm panel.
Suddenly a weapon on the surface of the moon activated and shot a beam of light at Scarif. The Force was screaming at Leia.
Rob was behind the pilot seat arguing with Donael. "No, Sir. I do not recommend we jump to hyperspace. The navicomputer was messed with. If we jump now, we'd risk flying through a star or worse."
Leia stumbled up to them and pushed through them to get to the controls. She activated the sublight engines and steered the ship towards Molavar. It was a local system, and one she hoped could shelter them. Before she could get them away, though, the ship they were hiding behind moved slightly and the Empire's cruiser began firing on them.
"They got in a lucky shot. Our Hyperdrive is roasted," Rob said as they sped away from the conflict.
"Good thinking, Skywalker," Donael said.
Leia could hardly hear them. She almost collapsed as the Force rushed over her. It was screaming even louder now, and her head was throbbing.
"Aah," Mara clutched her head in pain. She felt it too.
"We're being pursued," Aretti announced.
"Keep going then!" Donael ordered, and Rob took over the helm.
Leia began to recover quickly after that, as they left the system, and the Force quieted.
"Let's see what this is all about. Aretti, what was in that transmission?" Donael asked.
"It's a file, sir. I'm pulling it up now." As she typed at the panel in front of her, the screen began to show images of a set of blueprints.
"Oh my!" It was the only phrase that could escape anyone as they read the plans for DS-1: The Death Star.
"So it wasn't a moon after all." Leia stated.
"This is bad. Those goons aren't going to give this up. They'll pursue us all the way to the other side of the galaxy for this," Rob stated.
Suddenly a green light began to blink in front of Aretti. She pushed the button without thinking, accepting the comm call with another ship.
"Captain Eclipse here of the Rogue Shadow. I see you have a tail. Can I be of assistance?"
"Juno!" Leia exclaimed.
"Leia?" Juno inquired on the other end.
"Yes!" Leia cheered.
As the Rogue Shadow torpedoed the empire ship, the imperials all but ignored the little gnat and kept chasing them.
"They'll never be able to defeat an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer," Rob stated grimly.
"Hold on." Leia knew this was risky. So many lost their lives already just to let these plans fall into their hands. She practically pushed Aretti out of the way. "Juno, I"m sending you something. Take it back to base. Give it to General Organa with my sincerest apologies."
"Transmission received. File saved under name D-S-dash-one" They heard the voice of the Rogue Shadow announce to her captain over the commlink.
"Leia, What are you planning?" Juno worriedly asked.
"I'm planning to do what is right." Leia responded. "It's best you jump now. Before they get any ideas."
"Warning Fuel reserves low." The Rogue Shadow uttered again.
"Uh-oh! I can't make more than one quick jump. My fuel tanks got hit on that last run at 'em Looks like I'm just as stuck as you are," Juno uttered.
"No you're not. Jump to Scarif," Leia suggested.
"But That's where this cruiser came from. The Empire runs that system," Donael objected.
"Not anymore." Leia turned to Mara. "That feeling we got as we were leaving. That was the weapon going off. Scarif is no more. We're going to keep running. I have another idea, but it's a long shot. Just keep those plans safe until help arrives."
"You got it," Juno said. "Adiose," and with that the Rogue Shadow disappeared from their systems.
"Turn to Grid coordinates R Sixteen," Leia ordered. Rob obeyed, and so did the destroyer.
"We're not going to get out of this in one piece," Donael said. "Take Mara and switch places."
"Yes, just one thing." Leia pulled an old blade from her belt. The data-dagger Han Solo once gave her. Her father helped her program it with the essentials. She plugged it into the ship's terminal, and it erased all traces of the plans, and who they sent them to. If the imperial goons were going to get their hands on this ship, she did not want them to find out about the Rogue Shadow. With it lied the Rebellion's last hope to stop that thing. "Okay, done," she stated.
Mara followed Leia to a nearby quarters. There Leia put on the activewear of the princess and Mara put on a servant's smock.
Then Mara said words she was rarely known to say. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have messed with the ship's itinerary."
"No, if you didn't, we'd never have received that transmission. With those plans, the Rebellion might have a chance to destroy The Death Star. Whatever happens to us, that's worth it," said Leia.
The Princess looked down as she thought about Leia's grim words.
"Uh," Leia clutched her head again. "No, it's not the weapon again, something else." It felt like the opposite to that weapon, like life opening up in her head after so long being dead. When she finally realized what it was, she exclaimed. "Luke!"
There, right in front of her, she saw her brother. She couldn't tell where he was, but she knew it wasn't right here.
When she shouted his name, he turned around and looked at her. "Leia?"
Leia smiled, staring into her brother's eyes.
"I like the hair," he said.
"Oh this," Leia touched her red locks and laughed for a moment. "It's a long story. Listen," she got back on topic. "We are on our way to Tatooine, but I fear we won't make it in time. My brother, you're our only hope. Juno Eclipse is in Scarif on the Rogue Shadow. She has a very important transmission that the Rebellion needs. Countless lives are at stake here. I don't know how we're doing this after so long apart, but this couldn't be more fortunate."
"Actually, it might be because we were so far apart that we can do this now. Yoda said once that bonds like ours either grow or die when separated. I never thought our bond would die."
Leia smiled. "Neither did I."
"I can feel you on the edge of the system now. Do you need help?" Luke suggested.
"No. Just go to Scarif. Find Juno. She's out of fuel. Bring her to Alderaan. And remember, brother. I love you."
Luke looked up with cold eyes, intent to argue, but Leia knew she couldn't. She cut the bond short and her brother vanished.
Mara was standing there with her mouth hanging open, likely watching Leia talk to herself.
"My twin brother and I have a bond thingy. It's a long story," Leia explained.
"Ok-ay" Mara drawled.
By the time the supposed Princess and her handmaiden left the quarters, alarms were blaring all over the ship. Her captain and fellow officers were restrained in the hallway while imperial stormtroopers trasped up and down their craft.
At the end of the hall, near the Bridge was a dark figure. Known as Darth Vader to the Galaxy, the former Jedi Tel-Mac stood wrapped in masks and body suit to cover burns that he should've been allowed to die from, if not properly heal in Bacta.
"The Death Star Plans are not in the main computer," said an imperial officer, a technician by his uniform.
Vader squeezed the neck of his own officer, then threw his lifeless body on the ground. "Where are those transmissions you intercepted?"
"We intercepted no transmissions. This is a consular ship on a diplomatic mission. Only here by an error in navigation." Captain Donael insisted.
"If this is a Consular Ship, where is the ambassador?" Vader asked
Leia and Mara had the sense to kneel down low and avoid catching eye contact, but she could see no way out of the section. Vader began to choke the captain as he refused to speak.
"I-I am here." Leia stood up. "Mara Organa, Princess of Alderaan. My Captain does not lie to you. We know of no such transmission."
Vader turned to look at her. Leia could feel the force wrap around her neck as Vader tried to squeeze the truth out of her.
"Sir. Lord Vader…" A timid looking imperial said.
"What, Commander!?" Vader shouted.
"It may be wise to take the prisoners back to base. That way we can learn more from them via other interrogation methods."
"Fine." And Vader's Force grip on Leia's throat loosened. "Commander, tear this ship apart until you've found those plans." There was a hushed threat in the air. Unspoken, but quite clear what would happen if he should fail.
"Take them away!" Vader ordered, and stormtroopers rushed to obey.
And there we have it. The set-up I've been working for, and the reason I had to go on that tangent with Leia. In the next chapter we'll see Luke's POV and you'll find out whether he follows his sister's instructions or not.
I was originally going to do it rather similarly with the droids somehow following Leia on her adventure, but then I couldn't figure out how to make it work. R2 would, of course, join her and be in for any adventures along the way, but C3-PO. I couldn't imagine her taking him to the army. And then would the Rebel Army let her keep two personal droids with her? In the end it was just simpler to do it this way. R2-D2 will have a part in the next chapter though.
And another thing that's kind of changed. In the original movie, I got the impression that there were no prisoners taken except Leia. Whatever happened to the rest of them, I doubt Vader would just let them walk away. In this one, he took her whole crew prisoners, at least the ones he didn't kill anyways. The named ones all survived so far.