Chapter 14

It took quite some while but finally Padme had recomposed himself, but deep down it still felt so uncomfortable to her to allow herself that moment of weakness even if those two persons were no strangers to her. One thing was very clear to her right at this moment: There clearly was no good in beating herself up over and over again because the mistakes that she had made in the past, because as much as she would like to make some things undone that had went wrong she wasn't able to do it and she did have to let herself move on and just look forward to the future that lay ahead for her and her two wonderful children.

Before the silence got all too uncomfortable for the three of them, Leia finally said: "Soo….who helped you to stay alive all these years and where did him/she hid you the whole time?" Of course Leia knew that this whole thing clearly was the least favorite topic for her mother to talk about right at this moment but she wanted this question to be answered so much and she could also had the feeling that her brother was also seeking for this particular question to be answered. Thinking about this whole thing made her feel very uncomfortable again, but she tried her best to shake off that bad feeling for the sake of the twins and said after she had taken one deep breath: "Hiding me in the Outer Rim and putting me into a stasis pod was the big master plan of Master Ralkitta and Master Kenobi but let me tell you both this, I never was a big fan of leaving you alone in this very dangerous world even if Obi Wan and Master Ralkitta kept trying to reassure me that there wasn't an alternative to this plan no matter how hard this decision might be to make for me. " Of course Jedi Master Ralkitta watched this whole scene play out in front of him, through the force he could feel how hard it was to keep her façade of strength up right now.

Of course it also didn't go by Luke unnoticed that his mother was still feeling a certain grief when she was now thinking about the most hardest time in her life and as he reached out to her inner presence, he was very well aware of the fact that she had been through a lot in her life a long time before she had given birth to her children and being forced to give them away.

Back in the Capitol of the New Republic a very thoughtful Mon Mothma sat at the desk in her office, wishing that her good friend and former senate colleague would have been able to witness the birth of the New Republic: Bail Organa. Thinking about the lifes that had been lost during the fight against the Empire made her very sad again at this very moment. He surely had been such a great mentor for Padme's daughter Leia that had become a wonderful young woman over the years and a great asset in the first steps of creating a new stable democracy for Corucusant and the rest of the worlds that had belonged to the old Republic.

As they were continuing to move forward with assembling the new Senate Mon Mothma had vowed to herself that she would never ever again let corruption destroy the foundation of democracy. Her and Leia had agreed on one thing in one of their many meetings in Mon Mothma's office: One person should never ever have that much power to turn the democracy very quickly into a dictatorship, so that meant that they needed to put safe guards in place so that there couldn't be a second Palpatine. The first order of business from the Provisional Council had been: Voting for very strict Anti-Corruption laws to be put into the Constitution and putting two people into the leading positions of the new Government instead of just one Supreme Counselor.

She suddenly got interrupted in her train of thoughts as her personal intercom on the desk came to live and her secretary announced: "Sorry to disturb you Ma'am but Admiral Ackbar is here to see you in a very urgent matter."

"Okay send him in right away." Mon Mothma replied after she had shortly thought about what Ackbar had to speak to her about so urgently.

Admiral Ackbar then finally entered the Office and said without wasting any pleasantries: "I really hate to be bringing bad news but our recon troops had a run-in with imperial troops in the Zelos System and the data they were able to gather before they had to retreat back to the base highly suggests that there is an Imperial Base somewhere in the system.

I think that we should definitely be ready for an attack by the Imperial Troops very soon, an offensive move would probably be too risky at this point because we don't know yet what we are up against."

Mon Mothma had to digest this information for quite some time and this were really bad news for them: The Empire was getting organized again more and more after the big defeat at the Battle of Endor but who was pulling the strings now after the death of Emperor? Of course they really needed to hold their ground in the systems that they just had conquered, losing them back to Empire would surely be a huge defeat for the New Republic and it would probably also have an huge effect on the fighting spirit of the Rebel Alliance that had become the Defense Force for the New Republic and were willing to defend this new democracy till the bitter end.

"Okay then do anything possible to hold our ground in the systems near the Zelos System, divert troops there if necessary, try to continue gathering data on that possible Imperial Base in the Zelos System as good as possible and I want you to put a plan on my table how we're going to break down that Imperial Defenses there as soon as possible."

"That's understood Ma'am." Admiral Ackbar just replied shortly and then left the office of Mon Mothma.

Back at the Jedi Training Center Padme finally said looking at her son: "It's a shame that your father can't witness all that you have accomplished personally because deep down I know he would be so proud to see his son becoming a great Jedi Knight." As he heard that words from his mother, he couldn't but think again about the last moments he had spent with his father: Deep down they had been some good in him and he had sacrificed himself to safe his own flesh & blood from the Emperor.

AN: Thanks to- Dragon Fan 47 for adding this story to her story alert subscription, Thanks to- Stepheniebates for adding this story to her story alert subscription, Thanks to- erikj226 for adding this story to his story alert subscription and his favorite stories list, Thanks to- .5851 for reviewing this story. Please read and review