Chapter 87 - The Astute Princess

"That was so…" Luke started.

"I know, right!" Han finished.

Leia walked with a confident swagger past the boys off the ship. "I remember somebody suggested that the base would be guarded by more than just troopers, but I can't remember who." she tapped her chin thoughtfully.

Luke shook his head and rolled his eyes.

Han sighed. "You were right, princess. I'm man enough to admit it."

Leia held back a chuckle. While she would insist she was annoyed with the nickname, if you asked, she was becoming kinda fond of it. "Well, I'd love to stand here and listen to you both go on and on about how brilliant I am, but I have to go find Master Yoda and tell him about the adventure he just missed." She gave them a cute little wave as she walked away.

Han looked away, his arm came up to wipe his forehead. 'Is he blushing?' Leia wondered, before she dismissed the idea.

"Hey Master!" Leia breezed through the room, rousing its occupant very suddenly from a deep meditation that some may call sleep. "Yoda, what are you doing up here by yourself? You should come down to the mess with me. Have I got a story for you!"

"Wha… Padawan, where are your beads?" Yoda asked in confusion.

"My beads, I haven't worn them since you knighted me last year, silly!" Leia answered. Yoda squinted at her then nodded as the memory came back. "They are in that box on your dresser you keep valuables in, if you want to see them." Leia squinted at him in confusion.

"No, remember it, I do. Knight Skywalker, now you are. What news do you have for me?"

Leia smiled and looked off into space as she began her story. "Do you remember what I said about the outpost on Lok? Luke, as trusting as he usually is, believed the reports that it was undermanned, and Han was as overconfident as he usually is. But I knew the empire wouldn't be likely to leave a point like that so open to attack, didn't I. Well, we went, and can you guess what we found there?"

Leia paused and looked to make sure she still had his attention. Yoda looked back at her to encourage her to go on.

"They had three units of troopers, and an entire squadron of droids. One of them was bigger than the Millenium Falcon! Yeah, Han messed his pants when he saw that." Leia laughed. "We had to blast It's eye-port then run like mad to get away, but we still couldn't leave, because Luke still wasn't back yet. You see, it was his job to slip into the fortress to get the files for the Rebellion. Han and I were the distraction. So we played chicken with Bertha for a while until Luke sent his signal that he was out. Then we had to pick him up, still running like mad from Bertha and her pack. You know how I'm always criticizing Han for his recklessness and not thinking things through. Well, in this case… Now, you didn't hear this from me. If you tell him I said it I will deny it profusely. But, in this case, it worked. Han didn't think, he just flew straight at Luke with the ramp down. Luke made a mad leap and managed to grab the ramp while in flight. Then Chewie pulled him in before we jumped to hyperspace. It was so thrilling, my adrenaline is still racing. You should've been there."

"Glad you are safe, I am, but too old for adventures, I am also," Yoda tried to say.

Leia shook her head. "You would've been able to help me talk sense into those two. Before we were running from the giant droid arms. Anyway, come down with me and we can lecture them together."

"To get some tea, I have been wanting to." Yoda grabbed his gimmer stick and walked with Leia down the hall to the lift.

When they arrived at the rec-room Han and Luke were using a breadstick to represent the Millenium Falcon as they described what happened to General Dodonna. "And I was here." Luke put a piece of Taba Leaf on the table.

"Then when we picked up his signal, we were like, 'Uh oh,' Because then the droid was like…" Han reaches to the salad bar to move one of its utensils at the breadstick, which ducked out of its way as it flew down towards the Taba Leaf, which Luke threw at the breadstick. "And that's how we got out of there."

"That was…" General Dodonna was without words.

"Very reckless." Leia filled in. "We should've turned back at the first sign of trouble."

"But we got you this." Luke pulled out his data stick. "It has all the information from the servers on it, and I wouldn't have been able to get it if we turned around."

"True. Achieved much, you did today," Yoda said. "And though dangerous it was, from this experience I trust you have learned."

"Yeah, won't be as gung-ho about the next mission till I see its parameters," Han agreed.

"And maybe Leia was right about the empire fudging the numbers so things would appear less well protected than they are," Luke agreed. "A backup team, for safety's sake would have been helpful."

Leia was, eyes big, eying back and forth between Yoda and everyone else. Yoda ignored her. He turned to General Dodonna and asked, "To Master Skywalker, I would like to talk. Where is he?"

"That's it. That's all the lecturing they're gonna get." Leia mumbled.

"Master Skywalker is on a mission, but he is due to arrive back in a few hours. Oh…" Dodonna glanced at his tablet to read a message. "It looks like they arrived faster than expected. I should go meet him now. If you like, you could join me."

"To join you, I would like." Yoda agreed. He grabbed a cup of tea, then used the Force to carry it without spilling a sip. Dodonna reached out a hand to help, but shook his head and chuckled when he saw this.

"You did very well, Mara," Obi-Wan praised.

"Thank you Master Kenobi. And Thank you Master Sk… Grandmaster for showing me…" she held her deactivated saber in a way to demonstrate a few moves Anakin had taught her on their trip.

Anakin coughed to hold back his reaction to her endearment. He didn't know who told her to use it. Was it his own former Padawan being cheeky, or Obi-Wan pulling a joke on him to make up for years of old man jokes. They weren't going to get a reaction out of him though. Even if it made him feel very old, he wasn't going to let it show. "You're welcome. Why don't you settle in? Obi-Wan and I'll handle the mission debriefing, now that we're back."

"I heard on the commlink that Luke and co got back earlier today from their mission," Obi-Wan added. "Maybe you can find him."

Mara's face split in a boundless smile. "I think I will, If you don't mind."

Obi-Wan's face relaxed in a pleasant smile, as he nodded to her. When she was gone, he turned to Anakin. "They are cute together."

Anakin's face closed in a tight frown. "He's too young."

Obi-Wan had the audacity to laugh at that statement. He turned to step off their shuttle. As Anakin followed him, he saw Yoda and General Dodonna approach.

"Mission success!" Obi-Wan announced, far happier than he ever was post mission during the clone wars.

"Very nice. So, did you see any sign of the empire using droid security?" Dodonna asked.

"No, well no more than there usually is," Obi-Wan said.

"Come with me, and I'll go over what our other reports have been. You can tell me if you've seen anything like it."

"Oh. Okay," Obi-Wan confirmed.

"I'm gonna handle her detailing." Anakin waved to the ship. Since he had nothing to add on top of Obi-Wan's account that couldn't be handled later by skimming through the paperwork, it made more sense.

As Anakin pulled his work gear off the shelf in the workroom, he noticed he still had some company. His eyebrows went up. "What are you still doing here?"

"Still here, I am. Doing something, I am not," Yoda said.

Anakin nearly closed his eyes. "Mmm-hmm."

"To see what you are doing, I want."

"Oh. Well, I was just going to tune up her engines and clean out her compressors." Anakin threw a rag over his shoulder. "You see, she's an older ship, and she doesn't have the automatic tune-up that most models have." Anakin paused to see he still had the little man's attention. "Most of the other pilots won't check her systems, you see, and if they start her without doing this, she'll break down. I know I can't keep her running forever, but as long as I can…" He left the sentence hanging when Yoda nodded.

"Keep the machine running for a long time, you will. When to stop, do you know?"

"Uh-hhh." Anakin wasn't expecting this to turn into a philosophy lesson. "I guess, when the fixes become too massive to complete in my time post mission. Hopefully by then the rebellion will be able to secure another fleet of ships. Bail has already ordered a few from one of his allies."

Yoda nodded and smiled slightly.

"But until then, I'm going to do what I can to keep this old clunker flying." Anakin moved towards one of the hatches on the side of the ship.

Behind him he heard Yoda hum and say, "You and I both, we will."

After Yoda left with General Dodonna, Leia stayed to hang out with her brother, and Han by default. Of course, Luke went from coolly talking about this and that to being all doe eyed and in love in mere minutes after Mara showed up. Leia would later shake her head at it and roll her eyes, but she had to admit, it was sweet seeing them so happy.

That naturally left her and Han together for much of the evening.

"So that's when I said to him, 'What cargo?'" Han looked around like he was expecting her to laugh.

Leia didn't get the joke, but Luke and Mara did laugh.

"Oh Han, you are funny." Mara said, then she turned to Leia and changed the subject, thankfully. "And yeah. I was meaning to say, thanks for your advice with your father. The first time I called him Grandmaster, he got really quiet and emotional. I think it really touched him. We bonded really well after that. He showed me some cool things to do with a lightsaber."

"Oh really, I'm so glad." Leia replied.

"Did he show you?..." Luke mimicked something.

"No, he showed me…" Mara mimicked something else.

"Oh, wow! He never showed me that."

"Well you're not his favorite Grand-Padawan." Leia pointed out.

Luke leaned closer to Mara's ear and whispered something lovey into it. Then the two were off again. Leia looked back to Han.

"Did I ever tell you about the time I made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs?"

'Yes, Many times!' Leia thought, but it was better than sitting there trying to ignore the other two. "No. How did you possibly do that?" She replied instead.

Hello Everyone.

This chapter is about a year after the last one, so the ages of everyone are about:

Twins: 22, Leo and Ella-Reese: 19.5, Eli-Jinn: 16, Mara: 20, Han Solo: 31, Mace-Ti Brood: 18

Chronologically we are about in line with episode 5. I know some stuff that happened in that movie already sort-of happened here, but we're not Canon, are we?

This chapter is just sitting between my bigger arcs. I hinted at a couple of things here, but not too much has happened. Next chapter I intend to start the next story arc, which means more will be happening. It will probably be a multi chapter story arc taking place right after this chapter. I don't know all the details yet, but I know certain things I want to have happen. Then there'll be some changes for the characters to adapt to, and a whole lot of character development in the next bit. Then we will be ready to go into the final arch to this story's ending. I've almost got it all planned out now. I don't plan to head into the sequel trilogy years in this story, but will leave it open to possibly doing a sequel one day. So maybe 2 ½ to 3 more multi-chaptered story arches to go. I did warn you all that I can't do short stories, lol!