Chapter 2- Alarm and Messages.
Lena woke up, feeling very tired hours later after Luke rescued Wedge and Too-OneBee said that she had suffered damage from Palpatine's Force lightening. Lena felt like her brain had been stuffed with cotton and her eyes felt as if the lids had been glued shut. A sharp, painful twinge raced through her body, nearly causing her to cry out. "Painkiller, Your Highness?" The medical droid asked.
"I feel worse. Not better. Didn't you do anything?" Lena asked, feeling the muscles in her ears contract and pop. Uncle Bail had once said all humans had three bones in the ear. If he was still alive, Lena would have loved to tell him he was right.
"Treatment is complete, Your Highness. Now you must rest. May I offer you a painkiller?" The droid repeated again in his flat monotone.
"No. I think I have this one," Lena said with a grunt as she tried to relax into the Force. Her father had once said that a Jedi should be able to control pain and heal themselves. Now was the time to test it and see if she could; if she had enough mastery of the Force to heal herself. Artoo beeped a nervous-sounding beep. "All right, Artoo. You stand watch and I'll take another nap," Lena said with a yawn as she buried her head back into her pillows.
"I'll leave you, Your Highness. Please attempt to sleep. Call if you need assistance," Too-OneBee said as he rolled away on his treads.
"How's Wedge?" Lena asked, suddenly thinking of hers and Luke's friend. Lena had basically collapsed after Luke went to rescue him and, until now hadn't thought of him.
"Healing well, Your Highness. He should be ready for release within a day," Too-OneBee said as Lena drifted back off to sleep, calling on the Force and applying it to her aching, electrocuted bones. It was then that Lena heard feet running down the corridor. A slight misgiving in the Force then rippled down her spine and she sat up. Artoo then beeped almost paternally, "Your Highness, lie back down, please!" Too-OneBee said in what almost amounted to a panicked tone.
"In a minute. Stop!" Lena said sharply as she entered the corridor and Rebel soldier stopped in front of her.
"Yes, Master Jedi?" The soldier asked. Everyone in the Alliance knew that Cora, Luke, Lena and Talon were Jedi and gave them the full respect due to them.
'Did they decode that drone ship's message yet?" Lena asked, remembering what Wedge had nearly been killed for.
"Still working on it, Master Jedi," the man said cryptically.
Lena then made up her mind. She had to go to the war room where her father and everyone else would be trying to decode the message. Lena then turned to Artoo and placed her hand on the squat, little droid's domed head. Lena winced as a pain shot down her back.
"Your Highness, please lie down. The condition will rapidly become chronic unless you rest," Too-OneBee said.
Lena sat down on the bed and tried to think of a solution that would appease Too-OneBee. "Too-OneBee, have you got a repulsor chair somewhere?" Lena asked, the idea suddenly coming to her.
Talon looked up from the briefing he had been in for hours as a repulsor chair came into the war room. A smile crossed his lips at the sight of his daughter reclining in it like the princess she was. "Lena, what are you doing here?" Luke asked, going to Lena's chair.
"It's kind of important, brother," Lena said as she looked toward Mon Mothma, Crix Madine, and Admiral Ackbar, the other three leaders of the Rebel Alliance besides Talon. Mon Calamari rarely looked upset, but Mon and Madine were wearing their disapproval over Lena's actions where it didn't even take a Jedi to know that they were disappointed.
Lena moved her repulsor chair towards the holovid table, her youthful face determined. "You'll never learn, will you? You belong in sick bay. This time we'll have Too-OneBee knock you out," Madine said with that flatness that former Imperials were known for.
"What about the message? Some Imperial commander burned a quarter billion credits on that antique drone," Lena said.
"Probably right, my dear. But you really should go back to the sick bay," Talon said, smoothing her forehead gently with his hand and stretching out with the Force to determine her condition. Her bones were healing, but some of the damage from the Force lightening was still there.
"Master Jedi Skywalker, the Prince is right. You need to consider the risks you and your brother take...more carefully," Ackbar said in his gravelly, rough voice.
"I will, Admiral. When I can, but I wanted to know about the message," Lena said, with some exhaustion in her voice.
"Well, I guess as long as you aren't standing, it should be okay," Talon said, dropping a kiss on her forehead.
"Thank you, Papa. This should be interesting," Lena said as Lieutenant Matthews, who had run in with the message, went to the console and opened up the message port.
"Here it comes," Matthews said with finality as words started to scroll up the screen. Lena raised herself slightly to get a better look.
"IMPERIAL GOVERNOR WILEK NEREUS OF THE BAKURA SYSTEM, TO HIS MOST EXCELLENT IMPERIAL MASTER, PALPATINE: GREETINGS IN HASTE." Talon felt his lips twitch in amusement. This clearly meant that not very many people had gotten the word that Palpatine and Vader were dead. He wondered how long that would take for that news to reach people.
"BAKURA IS UNDER ATTACK BY ALEN INVASION FORCE FROM OUTSIDE YOUR DOMAIN. ESTIMATE FIVE CRUISERS, SEVERAL DOZEN SUPPORT SHIPS, OVER 1,000 SMALL FIGHTERS. UNKNOWN TECHNOLOGY. WE HAVE LOST HALF OUR DEFENSE FORCE AND ALL OUTERSYSTEM OUTPOSTS. HOLONET TRANSMISSIONS TO IMPERIAL CENTER AND DEATH STAR TWO HAVE GONE UNANSWERED. URGENT, REPEAT, URGENT, SEND STORMTROOPERS." And that was when the message ended.
"More data. We need more of this," Madine said, fiddling with a knob on the console to bring up more of the words.
"I think that's all we have to go on, General," Cora said from her place on the seats. Cora had grown quieter since the battle and she and Lando had destroyed the Death Star that Talon had forgotten his eight-year-old daughter was even in the room.
"There are corroborative visuals if you would care to see them, Sir, as well as embedded data files coded for Imperial access," the droid powering the information console said.
"That's more like it. Give me the visuals," Madine said and a projection turned on.
What looked like an Imperial ship came on the screen, spewing fire and then followed by escape pods being released. A large orange object that Talon had never seen before then filled the projection It was large and stubby and had a rough ovoid look with projections. "Run a check on the ships design," Talon ordered
"This design is used neither the Alliance or the Empire, Your Highness," the droid said the words after three seconds that Talon had been secretly fearing. The escape pods on the monitor then got pulled into the orange ship by what appeared to be a tractor beam.
"Taking prisoners," Madine said grimly.
"Access the embedded data files. Apply our most current imperial codes. Locate this world, Bakura. Are you sure you do not remember it, Your Highness?" Mon Mothma asked.
"No. I'm afraid not. I was was raised in the Old Republic and Masters always took their Padawans with them on missions. Master Plo never took me to a world named Bakura. Most planets in the Outer Rim we didn't know about as the Republic's jurisdiction didn't reach that far. The Bakurans must keep to themselves mostly," Talon said, stroking Lena's hair absently.
An image of a small planet appeared on the monitor, turning red to indicate it was Bakura. "Here, Madam, according to this file, its economy is based on the export of repulsorlift components and an exotic fruit candy and liqueur. Settled by a speculative mining corporation during the final years of the Clone Wars and taken over by the Empire approximately three years ago, to absorb and control its repulsorlift production capacity," the droid said.
"Hmmm, we didn't know about it during the Clone Wars. They must have joined the Separatists under Count Dooku pretty quietly as they were under the jurisdiction of the Mining Guild. But I wonder why Count Dooku wouldn't brag about Bakura being on his side? From what Obi-Wan told me once when he was teaching a class and I was in it, the Sith are not known for keeping their mouths shut when they take over something like a planet," Talon said.
"Count Dooku was a Sith, Uncle?" Luke asked.
"Yes. He nearly killed Obi-Wan, your father, and Senator Amidala, your mother, in a ring on Genosis. At the end of the Clone Wars, your father killed him. It was big news at the Jedi temple on Coruscant when that happened," Talon said.
"I think now, we have bigger issues than a Sith who died 22 years ago," Madine said grimly.
"The general is right. It's been subjugated recently enough to remember independence well. Now show Endor. Relative position," Mon Mothma said to the computer.
The sanctuary moon below the frigate they were on showed up. The distance from Bakura was rather disturbing to say the least. "That's virtually the edge of the rim worlds. Even traveling in hyperspace, it would take days to get there. The Empire can't help them," Luke commented.
"How large is the Imperial force at the system?" Leia's voice over the comm asked. Leia had been hurt on Endor during the battle and was healing on the sanctuary moon. Leia had just learned the night before the battle that she was Luke and Lena's triplet sister and finding out that Vader and Anakin Skywalker was the same person and her father too, hadn't rested well with her.
"Bakura is defended by an Imperial garrison. The sender of this message has added subtext, reminding Emperor Palpatine that what forces they have are antiquated, due to the system's remoteness," the droid said.
"Evidently the Empire didn't anticipate any competition for Bakura. But now there is no Imperial fleet to help there. It will take the Imperials weeks to reassemble, and by then this Bakura could fall to the invasion force- or it could be part of the Alliance. If the Imperials can't help the Bakurans, we must," Leia said.
"What do you mean, Your Highness?" Admiral Ackbar asked..
"If we send aid to Bakura. it's possible that Bakura will leave the Empire out of gratitude. We could help free its people," Leia said.
"Makes sense if we can convince Nereus of that, if he is willing to be convinced that the Empire is truly dead and gone and is not going to help him," Lena said.
"That chance is worth investing a small task force. And you'll need a high-ranking negotiator," Leia said after a pause.
"It'll have to be someone like Lena, Leia, or Papa as all three served in the Imperial Senate on Coruscant," Cora piped in.
"Can we afford to send troops, given the shape we're in? We've lost twenty percent of our forces, battling only part of the Emperor's fleet. Any Imperial battle group could do a better job at Bakura," Ackbar said.
"But then the Empire would remain in control there. We need Bakura just like we do Endor. Every world we can draw into the Alliance," Lena said evenly.
What stunned Talon next was not that Lena had calmly taken the idea that they needed to save Endor; it was that Han Solo, Leia's boyfriend, had decided to back Lena. "Admiral, I doubt we can afford not to go. An invasion force that big is trouble for this whole end of the galaxy. And the little Jedi is right- it's us that ought to go. You'd just better send a ship that can make a fast getaway, in case the Imperials get ideas," Han said in his normal cocky manner.
"What about the price on your head, laser brains?" Talon heard Leia whisper over the comm with his Force-enhanced hearing.
"You're not going without me, Highnessness," Han snarked.
"It would have to be a small group, but one ship is not enough. Admiral Ackbar, you may select a few fighters to support Princess Leia and General Solo," Mon Mothma said with slow, measured words.
"What are the aliens doing? Why are they taking so many prisoners?" Luke asked.
"The message doesn't say," Madine said.
"Then you'd better send someone who can find out. It could be important," Lena said with a bare wince. Through the force, Talon could feel the pain his daughter was still in and, even though they weren't Jedi, so could Mon, Madine, and Ackbar.
"Not you, Master Jedi Skywalker, and it doesn't look like we can wait until you've recovered. This team should leave within a standard day," Madine said crisply.
"He's right, Lena. You are in no condition to join any movement on Bakura. Me, Cora, and Luke will go with Han and Leia. You need to rest. I promised to always look after you since the day you were born," Talon said, smoothing her forehead with his fingers.
Lena released a huge sigh, that sounded like tired defeat. "Okay. I am starting to feel so tired, I am seeing double. I'll head back to my cabin. Keep me posted," Lena said. Talon leaned over, kissing her temple.
"I doubt we'll be sending you to Bakura. Consider your importance to the alliance," Mon Mothma said with grave gentleness.
"She's right, Master Jedi Skywalker," Ackbar said in as grave a voice as Mon's.
"I'm not helping anyone if I'm just lying down. I can at least help you put together the strike force," Lena said with the stubbornness that clearly came from Padme as she went to the lift platform and left the room, Luke and Artoo behind her.
