Alderaan

Kirn Torek sighed, as his ship at last blasted into Hyperspace. Rising, he thought maybe it was time to try talking to Senator Jerica. She had fought against him every step of the way, as he dragged her to the ship. It wasn't until he had shut her in one of the cabins that he realized he was still in the storm trooper disguise, and it was then that he understood her panic. Maybe I should apologize.

Jerica had been sitting locked in one of the personal cabins for what felt like ages. Suddenly the door opened, and her captor, now dressed in his normal tunic and breeches, stepped inside. Jerica had to admit that her first reaction was not fear, for she was too surprised by her kidnaper's appearance. He was handsome with blue eyes and dark black hair that was clipped short. Senator and captor studied each other for a moment, before he broke the silence, saying simply, "I'm Kirn Torek. I'm sorry if I startled you, but I need your help."

Jerica was beginning to understand that she wasn't in danger. "What help could I possibly be?"

Kirn hesitated, but then there was no point in subtlety. It was probably best to be outright. "I'm trying to find the rebel base."

Jerica set her jaw in a stern expression. Maybe she had felt safe too soon. "You're an Imperial spy."

"No," he said.

"What other reason would you dress as a storm trooper and kidnap me?"

"First of all," Kirn said, stepping toward the far wall, "I didn't kidnap you, I saved you. Second, I want to join the rebellion. So, I think that turning them over to the Empire wouldn't exactly help me."

Jerica didn't like the sarcasm she heard in his tone, but she let it go. "What makes you think I know anything?"

"You are the only Senator who openly stands up to the Emperor. You're either insane or you're working for the Rebellion."

"Then I suppose," she said rising from her seat, "by your deductions, I am insane." She moved past him toward the cabin door, "Drop me off at the nearest civilized system."

Kirn caught her arm before she could move out the doorway. "Listen," he said. "My uncle was a Jedi. He was killed at the Temple by Lord Vader. Do you really think in spite of all that I would work for the Imperials?"

Jerica tried to find a reason to doubt him, but there were none. "Alright," she said. "I truly don't know where their base is, but I know someone who can lead you there."

"Where do we find him?"

Jerica hesitated, before she admitted quietly. "The last I heard, he was on Alderaan."

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"Daddy!" Six year old Leia Organa ran to greet her father as he entered the door.

Abandoning all formality, even in the presence of his guests, Bail reached down and scooped the little girl into his arms. "Leia, what have you been up to?"

Turning to his guests he said, "I'd like you to meet Mon Mothma, Sabé Darred, Koln Darred and their daughter Kyra."

Leia smiled at the girl, who was only a year younger than she. It was friendship in an instant.

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Leia Organa, Princess of Alderaan and Senator in the Empiral Senate, moved along the Death Star hall in the custody of no less than four guards. The past few days had been ugly for her, as Darth Vader and host of others had done their best to . . . persuade her to reveal the location of the Rebel base.

Now she couldn't imagine what they were going to try next.

She had to admit being slightly surprised when she was lead into a large control room, where Tarkin was waiting.

"Governor Tarkin," she said, as she was brought before him, "I should have expected to find you holding Vader's leash. I recognized your foul stench the moment I was brought on board."

"Charming to the last," Tarkin said. "You don't know how hard I found it, signing the order to terminate your life."

"I'm surprised you had the courage to take the responsibility yourself."

"Princess Leia," he began, "Before your execution-"

So this is a last ditch effort, she thought. Involuntarily, her gaze moved in the way of Tarkin's gesture, and she realized there was a planet in the view port. Alderaan.

"and so I have decided to test the destructive power on your home planet."

Leia snapped, loosing her calm compose. "No, Alderaan is peaceful, we have no weapons, you can't possibly-"

"You would rather another target, a military target? Then name the system!"

Leia scrambled for an answer, any planet, any planet that wasn't Alderaan. "Dantooine," she said weakly. "They're on Dantooine."

Tarkin accepted her answer, but even as relief began to flood her mind, she suddenly heard the words, "Fire when ready."

"What!" she cried out.

"You're far too trusting."

Leia watched, helplessly, as her home, her dear Alderaan was blasted into oblivion.

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From where he sat in the cockpit, Kirn felt a tightening in his chest. He gave a stifled gasp of pain, attracting the attention of Jerica who sat beside him in the co-pilot's chair. "What's wrong?"

Kirn shook his head. "I don't know. Something's happened, something bad."

"Well, what-"

"I don't know!" he snapped, a little more tersely than he meant. "I'm no Jedi, I just have the potential. Thanks to Palpatine, I'll never be able to understand these . . . powers."

Silence remained between them for a long moment. Jerica had made no answer and so Kirn said softly, "We'll be at Alderaan soon. If you want to, you know . . . um . . . freshen up, you might want to-"

"Do I look like I need to freshen up?" she asked harshly.

Kirn knew it was probably a mistake to say it, but he answered, "Well, I just thought that whoever this contact is would probably be surprised to see you dressed as a . . . smuggler."

Jerica looked back at him with a mixture of incredulity and malice. Kirn was suddenly acutely aware of his lack of people skills, but fortunately, the senator had nothing further to say to him. She rose and moved back into the cabin.

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Bail had looked at his daughter and her friend with arched eyebrows. "Why don't you girls go and freshen up?"

Jerica had exchanged the usual glance with Leia. They were always in trouble, tearing around the palace grounds with Bail's two sons. They were never acting very ladylike. Leia, now ten years old, turned and lead her friend toward the nearest refresher.

Bail shook his head. He looked over at Koln Darred and the two exchanged a familiar knowing glance. Both Leia and Jerica were so much like their mothers, and that was a cause for great concern.

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Jerica had lived with her father in the Palace on Alderaan for nearly seven years. Ever since she was five years old, she had grown up in the same home as Leia Organa. Though she wondered, she had never been told why. Koln had been very secretive about their reasons for staying there.

She hadn't heard from her mother since her eighth birthday. Sabé, Mon and the other Senators, minus Bail, had left for somewhere on the other side of the galaxy shortly after coming to Alderaan and had never returned. Jerica grew up always wondering what had happened to her mother.

However, the young Nubian girl eventually came to love her surrogate home. Alderaan was much like Naboo, and she had soon come to believe that she would live there forever.

On her twelfth birthday, there was still no word from her mother, and Koln, for some unexplainable reason, decided to return to Naboo. It would be one of his biggest regrets, for returning to her mother's home inspired Jerica to follow in Sabé's footsteps. Against her father's wishes, Jerica had entered politics, and by her sixteenth birthday she was working at the Palace.

Now sitting in the starship owned by Kirn Torek, Jerica's thoughts were focused on their destination. This would be the first time she had returned to Alderaan in over six years, but it felt like a homecoming.

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A warning light on the console told Kirn that they would soon be coming out of light speed. He looked back to call to Jerica over his shoulder, only to find her standing in the doorway. She was dressed in a simple dark blue dress, and her hair was styled in a typical look of Alderaan, with a chignon on either side of her head.

Well, Kirn decided. I have seen women with stranger hairstyles.

She took a seat in the co-pilot's chair once again and shot him a look. "Better?" she asked, tersely.

Kirn kept his mouth shut, knowing that whatever he said, it would probably be wrong. Twisting some of the dials, he announced nonchalantly, "We're approaching Alderaan."

She didn't reply but gazed out the window at the stars that streaked by them. Taking one of the levers in his hand, Kirn pulled the ship back into a normal speed, only find himself in what appeared to be an asteroid field.

Jerica gripped her seat, trying not to fall to the floor in the jerking and diving of the ship. Kirn pulled the ship to a dead hover, and the two passengers looked round, seeing that they were surrounded on all sides by asteroids.

"Where are we?" Jerica asked, tentatively.

There was no other answer. The charts were clearly marked. Kirn knew there was no way around it but to just say it. "Alderaan."