Chapter 49

It took quite a while but Commander Richardson finally found a console, which was working just enough to serve their purpose and so he called out to his commanding offficer at the other end of the command center: „I've found a console that we can use to initiate the self destruct Sir." As his second command Captain Parker also had a hard time to keep standing on his own two feet, but as he heard the loud scream from the only other survivor of this battle so far he made his way to the position where Commander Richardson was standing as quickly as it was possible under these circumstances.

Coruscant, The Apartment of Leia and Han Solo

Meanwhile in Padme and Han were alone in the apartment, as Leia had been called away because of an emergency meeting at the Office of the Chief of State. Of course she couldn't help but think about the time when she had attended emergency meetings like that, back when she represented the Interests of her people on Naboo in the Galactic Senate of the Old Republic and to her it felt like this had taken place just yesterday. She quickly then concentrated her thoughts back on the present and said to Han: „It's good to see that you have got used to her sometimes schedule over the years and I have a good feeling that this marriage between you is going to last really long, despite all the complications that might get in the way in the future."

It was nice to hear from Leia's mother that she was giving her blessing to this marriage and Han already knew at this point that they would get along very well. Of course he wished for more alone time with his wife at the very beginning but in the end he realized that one thing was more important: He was proud of what she had accomplished and he would definitely continue to support her in good and bad times.

„Thank you for those nice words Padme, it really means a lot to hear them from you and I'm sure that you can teach Leia a lot with having such a impressive resimate yourself." The former Smuggler replied with a little smile on his face and he was so happy for Leia to have her mother in her life again, after she had lost her replacement parents in the long war between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire lead by the Evil Emperor Palpatine.

Coruscant, Office of the Chief of State

Members of the New Republic Military and the Intelligence Service were gathered around a big holoprojector in the middle of the Office, which showed an image of the Saarn System and the positions of the two New Republic Battleships as they approached the first planet of the system. Leia was busy with reading the most important information about the current crisis on a datapad that rested in her right hand, while Mon Mothma was asking General Ackbar:

„What is the estimated arrivial time for our two ships in the system General?" Mon Mothma was aware of the fact that things weren't looking good for them at all, from what General Ackbar had told her in a short briefing at the start of this emergency meeting in her office.

As hard as it might sound to her and everybody else present in the room: The chances were slim to none that they would find any survivors from the surprise attack on this secret listening post in the Saarn System. Unfortunately this wasn't even their worst problem they had to solve: Did they have a traitor in their own ranks, who secretly conspired against them with Grand Admiral Thrawn?

„The ships of Captain Stevenson and Captain Te'rell are only ten minutes away from the position, where they leave Hyperspace but giving the fact of the big enemy presence in the system they will have to proceed with caution." General Ackbar said and even if his face didn't show it at all, he was pretty concerned that the two ships would fly right into a good prepared trap but they also couldn't leave this Emergency Message unanswered in case there still would be any survivors that they would be able to rescue.

Right now there was still a little bit of hope, that they were able to save at least two human lives from this death trap and that somebody on this base had made sure, that not any of the collected data would fall into the hands of the enemy. Both sides had suffered some big losses since the war between Grand Admiral Thrawn, who had united the remaining forces of the fallen Empire again under his command and the just recently founded New Republic and Mon Mothma was determined to not let this democracy die again like it's predesessor before that. There was time where she somehow had felt herself to be responsible fort he downfall of the Old Republic, because it felt she should she done something to avoid this disaster from happening earlier and maybe that would have avoided a lot of suffering.

But in the end she had to realize one thing: There was no use in thinking about anything that could have happened, if she had done some things in a different way. Mon Mothma was interrupted in her thoughts as Leia Organa Solo asked:

„Do we have any ships nearby that we can send into the Saarn System as reinforcements fort he two battle ships?" Another member of the Military Personell quickly looked into his datapad that he had brought with him and answered after a few minutes: „There are five more ships that we could pull from their patrol assignments, but I'm unsure if they could be at the Saarn System in time to be of any assistance."

Leia thought about the words she just had heard, exchanged a short look with Mon Mothma who was the important person to make the decision in this case and time was truly a critical factor right now. Mon Mothma thought about everything she just had heard from the other present Admiral in the room and then said: „Pull all the ships we can spare right now from their patrol assignments, so they can secure a safe route out of the system when they arrive."

AN: Sorry, that it took so long to update this story again but thanks to a total data loss on my PC I had to rewrite the complete chapter. I hope that I will able to update more regulary again from now on and please read and leave a review fort he newest chapter.

Thanks to- BSG 75 for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, Thanks to- .5851 for reviewing this story, Thanks to- Mipp 45678 for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription.