Chapter 82

With time quickly passing by Mother and Daughter sat side by side in the empty cantina of the New Republic's Military Flagship, talking about anything that came to their minds at this moment. Padme listened close to every word from her daughter feeling so proud of what Leia had accomplished but also, she couldn't to feel a little bit sad because of the fact that she wouldn't be able to thank Bail and his wife for taking care of her daughter during her absence.

"I'm sure that your father would be so proud of both of you, if he would have been able to see everything that you and your brother have accomplished so far. Hearing you talk about the hard fight that the New Republic had so far against the forces of Admiral Thrawn, reminds a little bit of the days when the Old Republic had fight in a war against the Separatists movement and how all of this proved to be a part of a big plan to destroy democracy at the end." As quickly as that thought of the war against Count Dooku's Separatists movement came to her mind, she banned it from it as not seeing Palpatine's big betrayal coming earlier was one of her biggest defeats in her long political career.

Imperial Research Facility, Fondor

Just a few minutes had passed since Han had successfully placed the computer virus inside the main frame of the Imperial Facility. Ok, now comes probably the hard part of this whole mission and this getting out of this building before anybody realizes that something is off here. They were almost half way through the building, as a loud alarm was heard through the building and that caused Han's Wookie Pilot to ask how the Imperials were able to find the computer virus.

"Because I am just a pilot and no computer expert, I have to say that I don't know how the Imperials did it and that only one thing is important right now: We have to prepare ourselves to shoot our way out of here." As always Han just received a howling noise as a response, the Wookie signaling the Pilot of the Millennium Falcon that he was ready for the big shoot out.

Meanwhile in the command center of the Research Facility Captain Parker, the Commanding Officer of this Imperial Facility on Fondor said with a big grin on his face:

"It looks like our little hidden computer security system works has passed its first big test gentlemen and now we just have to make intruders regret big time what they have done, by making them pay dearly."

"My men are on their way to take out anybody that was so foolish enough to believe, that it would be a good idea to try and sabotage this facility." An Imperial Officer said and he was sure that he would be able to present the dead bodies of whoever placed that virus into the mainframe of this facility.

Jedi Temple, Coruscant

Sitting in his quarters Luke had two things on his mind at the moment: The possible threat for the stability of the New Republic in the form of the remaining Imperial Forces under the leadership of Admiral Thrawn provided and his apprentice Mara Jade. Lately he had sensed that both of them had developed a close connection with each other and he couldn't help but think: Am I getting too close to my apprentice? Of course, he could be exaggerating with even starting to think that he could repeat the mistake of his father: Fall in love and fall to the dark side.

He decided that it was for the best to put those thoughts to rest for now, knowing that there was a more pressing matter which he needed to concern himself with at this point: The stability of the New Republic. Yes, they had delivered some fatal blows to the forces of Admiral Thrawn but this long war had also cost them a lot too. He and a lot of the other Jedi Masters could sense the doubt inside the minds of some of the senators:

How long will The New Republic be able to withstand that onslaught by the Admiral Thrawn?

New Republic Military Flagship

"So, tell me a little bit more about your Jedi training how is that going with your brother as the teacher?" Padme asked her daughter after she had taken another sip of her coffee mug, which was half empty at this point and as she was very curious to hear a little bit more about that topic.

Of course, Leia had kind of expected that her mother wanted her to go into more detail concerning her Jedi training with Luke. After taking a little bit of time, to think about what to say exactly she replied:

"Learning how to use the force is such a difficult thing to do at this early stage of training, but overall I'm glad that I have my patient brother as my teacher." If she was being honest to herself, she didn't know at this point which path she wanted to continue to follow: Becoming a Jedi and turning her back on the complicated work in politics or focus on politics and the family that she was going to have with Han.

Of course, Padme had no idea what it meant to learn how to master such a mystical energy field like the force, as that was so far away from the things that she could imagine. After watching the stars go by quickly in Hyperspace for a short amount of time, Padme then said:

"From what I heard so far things have been quite difficult for the New Republic, how are you handling this political turbulence the whole time?"

Padme knew from own experience in politics, how hard it could get to keep everything together at a time of crisis but as difficult the whole situation seemed to be, she always had been determined to not let down any of the people that counted on her.

"To say that this whole permanent state of crisis has been easy to handle, would be a lie. But deep down I know that we will find a way together to make the New Republic last, by not letting the people win that want to tear down everything that we worked for so hard." The War against the forces of Admiral Thrawn, who proved to be a strategic mastermind had been going on for so long that Leia kept thinking: Will we even be able to win this war or will be all the fighting for nothing at the end?

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