Dai-Men stood in the center of the Falcon's airlock, a towering brown cloaked column with his arms folded into the sleeves of his robe, and stared impassively down at the determined young woman before him.
Leia looked up at nearly two meters of formidable Jedi Master and stuck to her guns. "I'm a trained diplomat," she reminded him. "I could be useful."
"And if you're recognized?" he asked.
"Well you are a Jedi Knight." she replied, eyes widening guilessly. "Surely you can protect me from a few dozen Imperial troopers."
Behind her Luke, wisely keeping well clear of the confrontation, gave a snort of ill-suppressed laughter.
Was that a smile on the Master's face? if so it was gone almost at once. Suddenly the dark blue eyes unfocused, no longer seeing her but something else - the future? He blinked back to the now and said, "This is not a good idea."
"Like sending Luke into a fortress full of Mandalorian Warriors was?"
Definitely a smile. "I thought it was. Very well, your Highness, stay close to me."
Leia had every intention of following the Jedi Master's instructions to the letter now that she'd gotten her way. She wasn't sure why she was so determined to go with him. Maybe she was just tired of waiting around. She knew it was dangerous, to the Jedi as well as herself, but she couldn't shake the feeling that somehow her presence would help. Wishful thinking maybe but after all it was Dai-Men who kept saying 'Follow your feelings."
She glanced covertly up at him. If anybody was risking recognition it was the Master, his long brown robe and well worn sand colored tunic might melt into the crowd on an agricultural planet but here, surrounded by shipsuits and Corellian vests, he stood out like - she groped for a simile - like a very tall tree in the midst of Coruscant's towers.
"The Jedi have been officially non-existent for nearly a generation." he said quietly. "Even our pictures have been proscribed. Nobody will recognize me for what I am."
Leia blinked. "Luke's right, you do read minds!"
He gave her a sideways smile that reminded her with a pang of Han. "Not minds, faces." he said and added teasingly: "I didn't expect a 'trained diplomat' to be so transparent."
She sniffed in mock offense and put on her best 'princess face'. "Better?"
"A little."
The princess-face slipped into a grin. Leia pulled it back into place and wondered yet again why Dai-Men seemed so familiar. Not as if she'd known him before but somebody like him....Maybe it was a Jedi trait. Raj Naberrie affected her the same way, and even the Kenobi girl. But Mei-Qan looked a lot like the holos Leia'd seen of her grandfather General Kenobi, especially the eyes, which probably explained that.
Jayce on the other hand felt like a total stranger. Luke had heard of him apparently as a pod-racer. She inwardly shook her head, that seemed like a funny thing for a Jedi to do. And Lando was apparently an old friend. Not exactly a recommendation considering what Lando's friends were like. Of course Han was one of Lando's friends too, could a Jedi be a scoundrel? She suppressed another grin. Maybe so, scoundrels did have their points!
After five minutes inside the Imperial garrison she was beginning to wonder if this had been such a good idea after all. She hadn't seen so many stormtroopers in one place since the Death Star and they were all staring at her.
"Men usually look twice at a beautiful woman." The Master murmured, reading her mind again. "Especially bored and lonely soldiers."
Was that really all it was? She calmed down a little and looked carefully, if covertly, back and read no suspicion in the eyes fixed on her, just a rather flattering appreciation and occasional touch of wistfulness.
Leia had never thought highly of her own looks, comparing herself unfavorably to her tall, elegant aunts and dim childhood memories of a dark, delicate face with sad brown eyes. Of course people had told her she was beautiful, but compliments paid a princess were not to be trusted. Nobody had ever been so disrespectful as to ogle her - until Han! Or called her beautiful not as a compliment but as a simple statement of fact. There was nothing offensive or lascivious in the stares directed at her. Really these Imperials were as well behaved as Rebel soldiers. Polite, even pleasant. It was very strange.
"Do you have an appointment, sir?" the clerk outside the C.O.'s office asked Dai-Men courteously.
"I'm afraid not." the Jedi Master replied. "It concerns sector 9-10-00."
The man's eyes widened slightly. "One moment please." He spoke urgently into his desk com, a hush field rendering his words and the response inaudible.
"Please go in." he said.
The Imperial commander was a youngish man, about Han's age, with a strained, edgy look to him. He scrutinized the Master and Leia briefly before demanding, "What about sector 9-10-00?"
"What about the Mandalore?" Dai-Men countered composedly.
"You know about them." the commander said flatly.
"As do you." the Master agreed, "Do you have a plan?"
"Are you kidding?" the commander pushed back his chair and began to pace restlessly. "I don't have the troops or equipment to take on even a handful of Mandalorians."
"There's more than a handful down there I'm afraid." Dai-Men said. "We estimate at least thirty."
"Thirty!" the commander stopped in his tracks and stared at the Jedi appalled. "So many?"
"At least. Have you communicated with Coruscant?"
"They're not interested." the Imperial snapped. "Either they don't believe me or they just don't care."
"They don't care." Leia heard herself say bitterly. "Why should they? They won't be the ones to suffer."
The young commander gave her a brief but penetrating look. "You could be right, ma'am."
"Would you be open to another offer?" the Master inquired.
"You kidding? I'll take any help I can get! From anybody - even the Rebel Alliance!"
Leia just managed not to choke on her own breath.
Dai-Men didn't turn a hair. "That describes our position as well," he said smoothly, "perhaps we can help each other."
"That was awfully easy." Leia said dubiously as they walked back to the ship. "Did you put a whammy on him?"
Dai-Men cleared his throat with some care before replying. "No, your Highness, it wasn't necessary. Captain Aiton is, as he said, desperate enough to snatch at any straw."
"That crack about taking help even from the Alliance," she continued uneasily, "you don't think he suspects -?"
"Probably just a figure of speech." the Master soothed.
The other Jedi took the news they were to have Imperial support philosophically. As Luke whispered to her nothing Dai-Men did could surprise them any more. Lando and Chewy were less jaded. They objected strenuously and Leia had to do some fast talking to cool them down and convince them the Master knew what he was doing - she hoped.
"Twins." Mei-Qan said flatly.
"Yes." Raj confirmed then sighed, "I was there when they were born. Obi-Wan and Padme decided Luke would be trained as a Jedi but Leia was to follow in her mother's footsteps."
The four Jedi had returned to the Jinx on the pretext of collecting some equipment. Luke had remained behind on the Falcon allowing them to speak freely.
"A princess," said Jayce, "but not of Naboo."
"That wasn't possible." Raj explained, "They had to be hidden, all three of them. Master Anakin didn't know about the twins but he was searching for Padme, he wanted her back. So Obi-Wan took Luke to Tatooine, probably the last planet in the universe Master would ever go back to. And Bail Organa hid Padme and adopted her daughter as his own." he looked curiously at Mei-Qan. "How did you know?"
"Something Luke said made the pieces fall together." she shrugged. "They don't know, not consciously, but their feelings betray the truth."
"Obi-Wan and Yoda seem to be keeping a great many secrets from Luke." Dai-Men observed thoughtfully.
"His father and his sister." Raj agreed, his disapproval obvious.
"It's not for us to question their judgment." The Master said firmly. "Luke is their responsibility, doubtless they have their reasons."
"He's your Padawan." Raj pointed out.
"And if he asks me a direct question I will answer it honestly. But I won't volunteer information his Masters have chosen to withhold."
"And neither should I." said Raj resignedly. "Very well."
"What about our so-called princess?" Jayce asked.
"Nothing so-called about it." Dai-Men said crisply. "By Alderaani law an adopted child has exactly the same status as a natural one. Legally Leia is not only a princess but the rightful heir to the House of Organa."
"Okay, so she's really a princess." Jayce conceded, lifting his hands in surrender. "But I take it she's also been kept in ignorance?"
"Kensai Moriah saw to it she'd be - incurious - about her birth family." Raj admitted. "She remembers Padme, at least I hope she does, and knows she's adopted. Bail was to tell her her real father had been his good friend and comrade in arms."
"True enough, as far as it goes." Jayce nodded.
"As far as it goes." Raj echoed grimly.
Somewhat later, after the two younger Jedi had returned to the Falcon, Raj raised another question with the Master.
"You really believe Luke can somehow reach Master Anakin and turn him back to the Light Side?"
"I know it sounds unlikely," Dai-Men admitted, "but I sense the possibility."
"You said something about another," Raj continued, his clown's face tightening with an old pain, "I hope you didn't mean me."
"Anakin killed Obi-Wan, his own Master." Dai-Men reminded his friend gently.
"I know." Raj scraped up a wry smile. "And Kaljeyru, and a few thousand others. I shouldn't take it so personally."
"Raj, I've lost two Masters to death and that was bad enough. I can only imagine how much it hurts to have your own Master turn against you."
"Not to mention finding out your second cousin once removed is a Sith." the other Jedi replied with false lightness. "Taken altogether not one of my better days." his voice fell. "Sometimes I think Obi-Wan has a point. It would be so much easier if I could believe it somehow wasn't really Anakin Skywalker who tried to kill me." then he looked up, wide eyes filmed with tears. "But it was. It was my own Master, dark or no, and he wanted me dead."
Dai-Men reached out to squeeze his friend's shoulder. "But you got away," he reminded softly, "maybe because deep down he wanted you to escape."
"Maybe. I'd like to think so." Raj pulled out a large multi-colored handkerchief to mop his eyes. "What were we talking about before I sidetracked us into this emotional bog?"
"You wanted to know who besides Luke might be able to reach the good still in Anakin." the Master replied. "I was thinking of my father. He believed in Ani, in his destiny. He just might be able to break through Darth Vader's armor."
Raj tilted his head quizzically. "Your father's been dead for forty years."
"From a certain point of view." Dai-Men smiled.
Leia couldn't sleep. Not even Sensana relaxation techniques helped. She looked at the chronometer, three quarters of an hour to go. Lying in bed fretting wasn't doing her any good. She might as well get up.
The main cabin was empty except for Raj Naberrie sitting at the game table playing with a set of holocards. No, not playing, practicing magic tricks. Leia smiled reminiscently. Her great aunt, Auntie Mor, had done card tricks for her when she was little. Making them appear and disappear, dance with each other and morph into 3-D images. She could remember pestering Auntie to do them over and over. And somebody else - she frowned in concentration, trying to remember. A boy who'd seemed almost grown up then but was younger than she was now, with wide blue eyes, a beaky nose and thatch of disordered brown curls...
"Raj!"
He looked up, initial surprise giving way to a suddenly familiar toothy grin. "So you do remember."
"What - what were you doing on Alderaan?" she sputtered.
Eyebrows disappeared beneath the fringe of curls. "Hiding of course. Like every other Jedi. Your Great Aunt Moriah was my Teacher for a time."
"Auntie Mor was a Jedi!" Leia gasped.
"And a powerful one, if somewhat eccentric." another grin. "Make that very eccentric! Eventually she passed me on to Dai-Men's Padawan Master for further training."
"Auntie Mor knew Master Jinn?"
Raj looked at her in astonishment. "Her own son? Of course she knows him!"
"Her son?" Leia exclaimed. "Auntie Mor was Master Jinn's mother?"
"That's right." Raj was beginning to look worried. "You didn't know?"
"Nobody bothered to tell me." Leia replied through clenched teeth.
Lando was still worried about the Imperials. "Luke, Leia, Chewy and I are all wanted Rebels." He ranted to Jayce. "The Jedi aren't even supposed to exist any more! Yet Jinn calmly walks into Imp headquarters and proposes a deal! He's got to be crazy -"
"No, just willing to take long chances." Jayce smiled. "You should understand that, Lando."
"Yeah, well..." the gambler grumbled. Long odds were one thing when cash was at stake but this was their lives.
"Master trusts in the Force." Jayce continued. "I admit it's sometimes hard on those of us with less faith. But he's never been wrong yet."
"There's always a first time." Lando said gloomily.
"There are too many Mandalore for us to risk engaging them en-mass." Jayce reminded him patiently. "The Stormtroopers can help us divide them into more manageable lots."
"Manageable!" the gambler snorted. "I know you can handle yourself, Jayce, and I bet Jinn can too, crazy or not. But what about Naberrie? or Luke? Not to mention that little girl. You can't seriously mean to pit her against a Mandalorian warrior!"
Jayce laughed long and hard and all but silently as Lando shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "That 'little girl'," he said, when he'd gotten his breath back, "may be the second best sabre fighter alive. Not that there's all that much competition these days." Jayce shrugged. "Mei-Qan's better than I am, a lot better. So is Raj for that matter - he's got a few more years experience behind him." he shook his head at his friend. "Don't judge a Jedi by appearances, Lando, we'll fool you every time."
Luke shared Lando's doubts, at least as far his own skills were concerned.
"Skill will come with practice, Luke." his Master consoled as they walked down the passage to the Falcon's main cabin. "The Force is much more important. Trust in it and you'll do fine."
"Even if I am the worst swordsman in the whole Jedi Order." Luke said gloomily.
Dai-Men grinned. "Not while my mother's alive you're not!"
His mother? Before Luke could ask more they'd entered the main cabin to find everybody but Chani there before them. Then Leia rose from the game table to fix them with a glacial stare that froze Luke in his tracks. 'What've I done now?' he wondered frantically - then realized she wasn't looking at him at all, but at the Master.
"Something wrong, Princess?" Dai-Men asked mildly.
"You could say that." she snapped, voice edged with the clipped Core-worlds intonation she used when she was being formal - or very angry. "I'd say there's something wrong when practically my only living relative doesn't see fit to mention the fact to me!"
Huh? Luke was mystified but the Master seemed to know what she was talking about. He looked at Raj who shrugged, embarrassed.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know it was a secret."
"It's not." Dai-Men sighed and turned back to the angry Princess. "I'm sorry, Leia, you're right I should have told you." he spread his hands in apology. "I'm afraid I have a bad habit of keeping things to myself."
"You can say that again!" Jayce muttered from his corner.
Luke was still confused. "You two are related?"
"Master Jinn's mother was my great aunt." Leia explained. "Which makes us cousins."
He looked up at his Master in astonishment. "You're a Prince of Alderaan?"
Dai-Men shook his head. "I am a Jedi, like my father before me. Mother too for that matter." he continued to Leia. "I only visited Alderaan once as a boy, and never did learn much about the Organa heritage. I'm afraid I tend to forget about it."
"I don't know all that much about my mother's side of the family either." Leia admitted, mollified, the smiled almost shyly. "I've been wondering who you reminded me of."
The Master's eyebrows lifted. "Most people say I look just like my father."
"I wouldn't know about that, but you have Auntie Mor's eyes. And you talk just like her sometimes." Leia smiled at her memories. "I was crazy about her when I was little. But I never knew she was a Jedi or that she had a son."
"It came as something of a surprise to my grandparents as well." Dai-Men recalled, sitting down across the table from her. "It seems Mother forgot to tell them she had a child."
Raj laughed. "That's sounds like her."
"I remember she was terribly absent minded." said Leia.
"Mother is a powerful seer." Dai-Men explained. "Sometimes she loses track what has been, what is, and what is yet to come."
To Luke's relief Leia seemed completely over her snit, though he couldn't really blame her for it. She'd lost her entire family when Alderaan was destroyed, all but a brother who'd gone over to the Empire. Even a distant cousin had to be some consolation. Dai-Men's mother sounded like quite a character. He remembered Yoda had considered her a bad influence.
Suddenly Chani popped out of the lock passage, blue eyes dancing with mischief. "Better get anything incriminating out of sight." she warned, "They're here."
"Stormtroopers aboard the Falcon. And by invitation no less!" Lando grumbled to Chewy. "Good thing Han can't see this."
The Wookiee barked a rueful agreement.