Chapter 44

The space transport finally landed at the Coruscant Space Port, and Padmé grew more anxious by the minute as she and her children were about to set foot onto the ground of the Capital of the New Republic. The three belonged to the last people who left the very full transport. Leia was happy to return to Coruscant again because that meant that she would be reunited with Han, who must have returned from a mission, and they both were very glad about the free time they both had from their time-consuming jobs. As Padmé looked at her surroundings for a couple of minutes she couldn't help but notice how weird it felt to be here again after all that had happened in the previous years.

She silently followed her two children through the large crowd at the Coruscant Space Port, feeling pretty determined to go to work for the wellbeing of the New Republic and making personally sure that no political games would jeopardize the life of this young democracy.

Even if his sister and Han had been a couple for quite some time now, for Luke it still felt like they were a pretty odd couple to say the least. If anybody would have told him a couple of years ago that Han Solo, former smuggler and a typical macho man would someday be a valuable member of the New Republic Military and a loving husband, Luke would have called that person nothing but crazy; but to his surprise the time with Leia had changed Captain Solo for the better. He and Han had also become close friends over the past years, as they had fought side by side in the Galactic Civil War against the Empire. Because Leia had notified Mon Mothma of her return to Coruscant shortly after the space transport had landed on the planet, 'Welcome back, and I hope that you all had a nice time on Naboo,' the Chancellor of the New Republic said as they had reached the area for the taxis just outside the space port.

A lot of work had to be done after the big celebrations all through the galaxy, as the Rebel Alliance had successfully defeated the Empire in the Battle of Endor, and Leia didn't know if she would have been able to manage all that without the help of Mon Mothma, who certainly had more experience in politics than her because of her time as a senator back in the days of the Old Republic. 'Yes, we had quite a nice time on the home planet of my mother. and I think that she definitely looks forward to working in politics again, as she has accepted the position of the Personal Advisor for the Queen of Naboo,' Leia said with a little smile on her face, and she knew that her mother could also teach her some things about the sometimes very complicated field of intergalactic politics.

Saarn System

Before the listening post was able to get their fighters in the air, the Imperial armada had already damaged the little outpost a lot, and that meant that the genius strategy of Grand Admiral Thrawn worked to perfection so far. Countless red and green laser beams were seen over the little New Republic outpost, as the defenders of the base were desperately trying their best to hold their ground in an impossible situation, where they seemed to be totally outnumbered and where it was only a matter of time before the base would fall to the Empire.

Command Center of the Listening Post

Captain Parker knew that the current situation was hopeless, as another officer handed him a datapad with the first damage reports that came from all over the base, but he knew that they just had to hold their ground a little bit more because they just couldn't afford to let this system fall back into the hands of the Empire.

'Commander, if you have any ideas to get out of this mess tell me, as now would really be a good time,' Parker said as he turned to his second-in-command Commander Richardson, even though he was very well aware of the fact that he put him in a difficult position right now, but they needed to find some answers against this Imperial surprise attack.

Knowing that they didn't have any time to think about the exact reasons behind this out-of-the-blue attack, Commander Richardson took just a little bit of time to think about any kind of plan that could save them at this critical point.'Our remaining fighters have to regroup in close proximity to the base, because, like it or not, we can consider the space battle in orbit already being lost,' he said. At first Captain Parker tried to tell himself that his second-in-command was just being pessimistic as always, but on second thought he couldn't help but agree on his assessment as he looked over the numbers of ships that they had already lost during the fight in orbit. Parker barely audibly sighed before he finally gave out the order to this communications to open up a secure channel to the remaining ships in orbit of the planet.

The Command Center was once again rocked heavily, as a couple of shots hit the building and even made a console explode. Parker instantly screamed for a doctor through the internal communication system, as he saw that the man behind the console had hit the ground hard because of the big explosion, before he went over to check the pulse of the man by himself.

Coruscant

Meanwhile, Leia had learned that Han had just recently returned from an important mission for the New Republic, and she couldn't help but feel excited but also somehow nervous at the same time, as she thought about the first meeting of her mother and Han, but she tried her best to not let any signs of nervousness show in front of her mother, Mon Mothma, and her brother. Padmé and Mon Mothma talked a lot during the taxi ride to the apartment complex: 'I'm happy that you get to spend time with your two wonderful children after all, and somehow I still can't help but wonder how surreal this whole thing still is to me, seeing you alive today after being on Naboo for your funeral.' Padmé smiled a little bit as she replied, 'Trust me, I know how you feel, because even if I'm thankful for this second chance, it will take some time to get used to all these changes that have happened during my absence.'

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