GreatOne: Of course I'm posting here! Here you go!

Owphoenix: Okay - here's more!

SoloKenobi: Well, the mission itself doesn't really begin until the next chap, but I need a bridge, I think. Anyway, here's the next one!

Summers2004: Oh, Leia's in trouble, alright. Thanks!

RivendellWriter: Thanks!

Dm1: And I enjoy writing them! Hey, it works both ways!

Vegemite: Leia's thoughts will always be in italics, her speech in normal font. I understand, the last couple o' paragraphs of the first chapter were a bit confusing.

Thanks everyone!

This is my lowest – chair in front of the hatch – I can't possibly – chair next to the hatch – get any lower – in front of the hatch – it's absolutely – next to the hatch – pathetic – in front of the hatch –

Leia sighed and closed both her eyes, imagining what would happen should any of her four companions enter the spare cabin and see her sitting on the floor, opening one eye at a time in order to see the chair jump in front of, and away from, the hatch.

They'd think I'm insane.

They'd beright.

She was insane for hiding in her office during any sort of social activity on base, for sleeping in that same office most nights after her exhaustion finally took over. She ate far less than she knew she should, was living her life day to day in the hope that it might improve in that illustrious "future." And though she knew what she was doing was not productive at all, she could see no way to change.

And so Leia had treated this situation on the flight to Itets-Enuzore as she would her daily life: she hid. Sequestered in one of the spare cabins onboard the Falcon, she had tried to ignore the other members of the party. Solo and Chewbacca were fairly easy to disregard – neither had tried to approach her yet – but she was having difficulty persuading Lieutenant Rimmas Stribur and Commander Luke Skywalker to keep her self-ordained solitude intact. Both had attempted to converse with her through the hatch numerous times during the last four hours, to no avail. She had edged off Luke by saying she was reading documentation regarding the Itets-Enuzore delegation.

Stribur was not so easily assuaged.

And as Leia heard a polite knock resound at the hatch, she knew that she had yet another battle with the colorized, underage spy on her hands.

"Princess? Your Highness, I know – "

Leia sighed and leaned against the bunk, shuffling her feet on the floor and making crinkling noises with the bedclothes behind her. "I'm quite busy, Lieutenant. Would you mind coming back later?" Like five minutes before we land?

"Um, no, Princess. Look, I really want to talk to you, and, ah, I know what you're doing in there. Please, open the door?"

Leia seriously considered carrying her blaster with her as she stood up and walked the few steps toward the hatch. I would then be socially inept, malnourished and guilty of murder. That would be a fascinating career move. She slapped the hatch panel and leaned against the frame as she set her face in the diplomatic mask she had perfected.

"Lieutenant, I don't know why you insist – "

"Princess, I'm a political science major."

Leia stared.

"And, um, I thought you could, you know, help me."

Leia blinked.

"With, ah, this practice interview thing, and – "

Leia blinked again.

"- it's not a big thing, but I was wondering if, you know, you would mind an interview. Maybe?"

Leia shook her head to clear out the thousands of little questions she had. "Wait, wait. What are you saying? You've been bothering me this entire time because you want an interview?"

Stribur had the sense to look slightly abashed. "Well, I, ah, thought it would be a good idea."

"You do know that you couldn't turn it in, right?" And next on today's holonews, university student uncovered as an Alliance agent when interview with well-known war criminal is turned in to professor . . ."It would expose me and you."

"Of course I know that. I was just wanting to practice on you. Interviewing skills and your views on stuff."

Like you couldn't find any of that on the Senate records. "You won't turn it in?"

"No."

"And it's not really an assignment?"

She shook her head. "No, it is, but it's not something I would do on, well, you, and I only know about it because I talked to the prof first, and I would really like to try it out before class, you know, actually starts."

"I'm target practice, then?"

Stribur laughed quietly. "As long as I don't actually kill you, yes."

Leia looked around. This is insane! She nodded and stepped away from the hatch to allow Stribur to enter the cabin. Leia tapped the hatch control pad again and the door hissed shut as she turned and walked over to the bed. Extending her arm, she invited the Intel agent to sit on the bed as she herself did.

When both were settled, Stribur logged onto her datapad. "I guess we should just start, huh?"

"That would probably be prudent." I still hate her. Really, I do. "What's your first question?"

"Well, ah, my first question deals with your stance on the Galactic Civil War." She looked down at her datapad. "Umm, I don't think that's a very good question for you though." No, really? "Lemme skip that one. Er, here's one that works. How does your political stance on said Civil War reflect the politics of your homeworld?"

"It doesn't." End the topic. Pick a new one.

"How so?"

Because it doesn't exist anymore? "Alderaan's ideology, expressed within the culture and politics, is largely pacifistic." Was pacifistic. Use the correct tense. "The Rebellion on Alderaan was an ideological dispute. It wasn't until Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis made the military steps that my father and I consented."

"And the people approved or disapproved?"

"On the whole they approved in a distant sort of way. Alderaanians had little actual experience in warfare outside of intellectual understandings of it, and therefore couldn't logically say they approved or disapproved." Enough about me. "What about you? Where are you from?"

Stribur looked confused. "This is your interview. I don't talk."

Gotcha. Something you don't want to share. "So, be unorthodox. Where are you from, Lieutenant?"

"Itets-Enuzore."

"Really?" Interesting. "When did you become part of the Alliance?"

"Two years ago. A year before Yavin."

And the question of the hour. "How old were you?"

Stribur hesitated, disengaged her eyes from Leia's and blushed slightly. "Too young."

You and me both. "How young?"

"Wasn't I interviewing you? How old were you?"

Leia raised and eyebrow. "Will you tell if I do?"

Stribur nodded. "'Course."

Leia sighed. "I was elected to the Senate when I was seventeen. Joined the Rebellion at eighteen." And so -

"Me too. I mean, I joined the Alliance at seventeen, not the Senate."

Nineteen? She's nineteen? "Do you ever regret it?"

"Um, no. Not really. I mean, I enlisted a few months after my dad died, and it all kinda just happened." She paused. "I guess I'm glad I did it. I'm fighting for what I believe in. But being Intel and still stuck on the same planet – that's hard. And hiding everything is, too."

"How've you kept it a secret?"

"I stay pretty far away from people, try to tell myself that everyone's the enemy. That I'm always, you know, in someone's blaster sight. And coming to base on vacations from school, that helps. Reminds me what's really going on."

"How will that change once you're at the University?"

"It'll be harder. Keeping something from a roommate, that'll suck." She glanced at the bedclothes on the bunk. "But I can do it. I'm like an expert at this by now." She smiled guardedly.

Leia smiled back. "I would say so. Two years? That's enough time to master anything."

"Yeah."

Leia nodded and dropped her eyes for a minute. She raised her eyes back to Stribur a few tense moments later. "Lieutenant, you look like you need something to eat. Go ask Commander Skywalker where the edible food is. I'm sure there's something you can have. Take your mind away from life for awhile."

"Yeah, I think so, too." She stood up, dusted her pants off, and walked to the hatch.

And stopped.

"Hey, what did you - ? How - ? How did you do that?"

Leia looked up innocently. "Do what?"

Stribur blinked and her mouth gaped open. "I was interviewing you, and asked one question, and you, you – " She stopped and smiled. "Senate by seventeen, huh?"

Leia raised an eyebrow at the young agent. "Learning to dodge unwanted questions is a key part of politics. You'll learn."

Stribur nodded and opened her mouth again. When no words came out, Leia was able to guess what it was the agent wanted to ask. In an unprecedented display of openness, Leia answered her unasked question.

"Same as you. Nineteen, as of three months ago."

With a slight nod, Leia dismissed her and Stribur left the room, leaving Leia with a self-satisfied smile as she sat down on the floor and resumed watching the chair jump in front of the hatch.

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KR