Chapter 11: The Duchess
It took Luke only a few hours to
arrive in the Outer Rim territories from Dathomir. "All right," he
said, "lets just get the exact coordinates, Chewie."
Luke punched the code in,
"looks like we will meet up with them ETA 30 seconds, so lets see if a
transmission works, if I use the code. Then I will space walk over, and Chewie,
you fly the Falcon."
Luke did, "Alderaanian ships,
this is Luke Skywalker of the New Republic, Salie Drumsenick, gave me this
code, I know the code to command your ship, if you give me permission I will
come aboard."
"Luke Skywalker, this is
Duchess Rouge of the House of Alderaan, welcome aboard, and come to the first
one."
So Luke attached a line to the
Alderaanian ship, and space-walked over. The Duchess was waiting. Luke
recognized her right away because of the similarity to how Leia does her hair,
and the duchess. "We were waiting to see when someone discovers us."
She said.
"Forgive me, if I do not
address you in the proper protocol fashion, as I am unaware as to how."
"Well, normally, the protocol
is Your grace, and a bow, but, since we are in space, right now, ignore
protocol and just please fill me in on what is happening, as we fly back.'
Luke took the hint and went to the
front of the ship. The cockpit had to be opened by the code, so Luke nervously
waited, and it opened. All the people on the ship cheered.
"All right." Luke said,
"I have set course for Coruscant, the New Republic capital. But, we must
see a way to get you all a graceful, but a media covered entrance. Rumors could
start otherwise, dead coming alive, etc."
"What about a grand, and very
ostentatious entrance at a highly covered government meeting, at which my
niece, shall be present, and hopefully all the refugee's shall be
present."
"Alderaanian council."
Luke said, snapping his fingers," that is the only governmental
proceedings at which we can be sure there will be media, and it will happen.
Plus, Salie has quietly mentioned to some of the members that you all are
alive. She agreed not to tell Lei-, I mean, Princess Organa."
"That is fantastic. I wanted to
surprise Leia anyhow, and it would be a good chance to see if she remembers any
of her schooling."
Luke hesitated, he knew he was
touching on a touchy subject. "I will completely understand if you do not
answer but what exactly happened, and...did any people die."
"See, Bail, no matter how he
pretended naiveté, knew many people in the Imperial hierarchy hated him, and
rightfully so, no matter he didn't put in his outright support he, Mon, and
Garm founded the Rebel Alliance. So he had defense systems set up. He proved
his theory, about defense can save your life, but if you have offense, you are
setting yourself up for defeat. So, he had systems that could track weapons
systems, and special ships, these one's. He was actually going to give these
stealth ships to the Alliance, but the rest got blown up as well. See, when
Bail rang the alarm, all citizens took the stormtroopers prisoner, and locked
them up. Then all citizens got on the ship. Bail was a believer in citizens
comes before the rulers. Then we all got on." The Duchess turned
away." Bail refused to come, he said his duty is not only to the people,
but also to the land. So he would die with the planet. His wife stayed with
him. Also three others, who didn't believe there was such a thing died."
Duchess Rogue's sister, Tia, who had
mostly stayed quiet attempted a smile, "well, I guess out of billions
having only 5 die is an accomplishment. Did you know Bail advocated letting the
stormtroopers come, just keeping them prisoner, he was outvoted."
So Leia was going to have to deal
with some members of her adoptive family dying, after all, Luke thought. The
rest of the ride was basically comprised of planning the meeting between the
Alderaanian refugee's and the rest of the Alderaanian populace and discussing
what was happening in the galaxy. As Threkin Horm's wife explained, their Holo
Vid's had broken down a while ago. And without the code, they couldn't repair
them.
A little while later Luke called
Han. "Hey, I am sending Chewie to pick you up, I think you want to see
this." Luke then proceeded to tell Han the plan.