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Chapter 5
Ensign Mell Krevett marched behind two white Stormtroopers carrying the delicate deep-scanning equipment. He marched briskly, with his head held high, at the back of a procession into the gigantic docking bay, It reminded him of the Academy gym the way the ceiling vaulted high overhead and the polished floor sent his reflection and the echo of his shiny boots back at him. The ship in the middle of the bay looked tiny in such an enormous area. The red markings clearly indicated that it belonged to a diplomat of some sort, and as they came closer, Mell curiously strained his neck to read the name on the starboard rear.
Tantive IV
What kind of a name was that? Why name a ship after the backwater fourth moon of that factory planet, Tantive, in the Correllian sector? Maybe the owners came from there.
The rear door hissed open for them and Admiral Tarkin marched up into the bright white interior, flanked by his Troopers and followed by his scanning officers.
"Why, Admiral Tarkin! What a surprise!" Mell Krevett's heart did a funny little jump. He knew that voice. Had dreamed of that voice since his graduation party not three days ago. How could Princess Leia Organa be here?
"Princess Leia Organa, an unexpected pleasure to see you again." Tarkin's voice floated back, confirming Mell's thoughts and giving his heart another funny flip-flop. He willed his palms to stop sweating and his heart to stop thumping. He was at work, not in a Correllian bar. Act professional. No, no, don't act, be; be professional, Mell Krevett, you fool. For all you know, Leia Organa is a rebel sympathizer, and she played you like a Tattooine Sax that night at the party.
"I must admit, we weren't expecting someone so. . . important, as yourself to pull us in for a chat like this." Leia's voice was genuinely warm. Toward Tarkin, of all people. Had she just been in a bad mood at the party, or was she a better actress, or politician, than he thought? Mell scowled and stretched on tiptoes to see over the heads of the officers and Stormtroopers. There they were. Tarkin's prim form stood at the head of the boarding party, of course, and standing in front of him was Leia. Her dark hair was braided and pinned up most becomingly, making her look older for some reason, and she was dressed casually in tunic, pants, and a vest. Behind her stood a young officer in uniform and two droids. A gold protocol droid and a blue and white astromech droid. Funny reception committee.
"Thank you for your gracious welcome, Princess." Tarkin sounded falsely genuine. "But we wish to see the Captain of this vessel, discuss a few important matters, and then you can be on your way. . . Where did you say you were heading?"
"I did not say, Admiral." Leia smiled, but her voice was colder than durasteel. "But if you must know, we are on a humanitarian mission, bringing relief to victims of economical disaster. Is that suddenly a crime, Admiral Tarkin? Because the Empire I believe in encourages such shows of mutual support and patriotism; standing with my fellow systems in their time of need. I would want others to come to Alderaan's aid if some disaster were to befall her, as you would want others to assist your homeworld if the same happened. Don't you agree, Admiral?"
"Of course, Princess, you are right." Tarkin bowed deferentially.
"And as for the Captain:" The girl bowed slightly and turned toward the young officer behind her. "Wedge, will your father be coming soon?"
Mell frowned. The boy was the Captain's son? Why didn't anyone tell him they'd have such a. . . distinguished welcoming party? The Princess of Alderaan and the son of the Tantive's Captain. And two strange silent droid guardians. The oddest welcoming committee any Imperial boarding party ever had, certainly.
"Captain Antilles will be here shortly." The young man replied briskly, impressing Mell. The kid would make a great Imperial. "Doubtless he is gathering his officers to give you a proper welcome, Admiral. We apologize for the impromptu nature of our welcome, but we thought we'd passed the last checkpoint yesterday." The teen bowed slightly to the Admiral. Yes, very professional.
"Are you quite certain he isn't merely hiding evidence of his rebel leanings?" Admiral Tarkin's accusation would have made potential rebels nervous, Mell knew, but the two young people seemed more angry than unnerved. Good. He didn't know what he would have thought had the Princess turned out to be part of the stupid rebellion.
"How could you even say that, Admiral?" Leia demanded hotly. Her face flushed and her eyes sparkled. Mell wondered if she knew how pretty her temper made her. "It isn't enough that you slander my father in front of the entire Galaxy during campaigns, that you must slander my friend's father in front of him? In front of me? I'm ashamed to think such immature behaviors are allowed in the Imperial Navy."
"Pray forgive my haste, Princess, I meant nothing by my hasty suggestion. I beg your pardon for the perceived insult." Tarkin bowed deeply, but Mell heard his commander's temper also flaring. Doubtless he was upset that he hadn't caught rebels, only some idealistic humanitarians on a mission of charity. And doubtless he was also upset at the way the Princess talked to him. As if they were equals. It was rather impressive, actually.
Mell's musings were abruptly interrupted by activity in the far back of the white hall. A contingent of smartly dressed officers and a light bodyguard detail marched up. Leia, Wedge, and the two droids stepped aside and stood against the wall. The Captain went right up to the Admiral and shook his hand heartily.
"What an honor, Admiral! I'm ashamed of the best I can offer, but won't you come to my quarters with your officers so we can have a toast and quiet chat while your men carry on their duty? It's dull to stand around waiting for scans, isn't it?"
"And you are. . . ?" The Admiral icily extracted his hand from the Captain's enthusiastic grip.
"Ah. . . Raymus Antilles, sir, Captain of the Tantive IV."
"Indeed." The Admiral would have spoken further, it was obvious, but a richly clad Senator swept his arm around the Captain and likewise caught Tarkin's hand in a shake.
"Senator Bail Organa, and by the stars it's a surprise to see you here, Moff." Bail grinned warmly and released the stiff Admiral. "Have you patrolled this system long? Perhaps you can give us the truth of all these awful rumors concerning the tragedies befalling Mon Cala?"
Admiral Tarkin seemed a bit startled, but sounded graciously relieved in his reply. "By your pleasure, Senator, I'd be more than happy to discuss such matters. . . In private, of course."
"Excellent!" Antilles clapped his hands together and motioned to some of his men. "Porkins, Klivian, show the gentlemen the cargo and give them a hand with the equipment if they need. Be careful, those things are heavy and delicate."
"Aye, sir."
"Aye, Captain." The two men saluted and turned to lead the scanning team down to the cargo bay. Tarkin gave his scanning teams a flick of his hand to dismiss them, and then followed the Captain and the Senator up the hall with his four officers.
Mell passed right by the Princess on his way to the cargo bay, but she didn't even look up at him or notice him. Oh well. As he turned the corner, he heard the cultured chirp of the protocol droid for the first time.
"Oh, thank the Maker that's all over! What exactly happened, if I may ask?"
Leia's voice was dry and humorless. "That, my friend, was my first diplomatic mission."
A final comment floated behind the team before they were out of earshot. "You're a natural, Princess." That must have been the Captain's son. Mell didn't know why he suddenly hated the good-looking young man. But he did.
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"And Tarkin had to agree there was nothing stopping us from our mission of charity, and he let us go with his compliments!" Laughter greeted Bail's triumphant ending and clapping ensued. Mixed with the sound of human hands was the slap of Calamari flippers. The humid interior of the ship was programmed especially for the Calamari who lived within. Their skin would dry out if the air was too dry, and they might catch a cold if the air wasn't warm enough. Naturally, most of the humans were sweating, but the Calamari were far too gracious to comment, and the humans were enjoying themselves too much to complain. Bail had been asked to relate why they'd been two hours late, and he'd happily complied. The close call had been when Captain Antilles' "helpful" assistants had brought over some containers for scanning that held deconstructed blaster cannons for the fleet ships. A subtle nudge of the equipment in the right place had caused the scan to go awry and come up as portable heat generators. They were certainly heavy enough for that.
"All's well that ends well, eh old friend?" Ackbar chuckled hoarsely, wiping slimy tears of mirth from his bulbous eyes. "Wouldn't Palpatine blow his top if he found out his poster boy was the one that let the blaster cannons through?"
"We should attach a note to the first salvo we give the Empire!" A Calamari gunner whooped from the other end of the room.
"Too bad we can't." Another young Calamari mourned from nearby. "I'd love to see the looks on their faces, though." Another round of laughter followed, and more congratulations. The rebels were giddy with success, and such a momentous escape deserved to be celebrated.
"But the real heroes here were not me and Raymus!" Bail interrupted the noisy celebrations and raised his cheap plasteel mug. "Please join us in toasting the true heroes, who delayed Tarkin and his troops long enough for us to set up our little plan!"
"Porkins and Klivian!" Someone shouted and raised his mug a bit too quickly.
"Sorry, no." Captain Antilles laughed. "Join us in toasting our clever children! To my son, Wedge Antilles!"
Bail clinked his mug against his friend's as he added, "And especially my daughter, Leia Organa, diplomat of the Rebellion!"
"To Wedge! And the Rebel Princess!" The cheers and mug-clinks drowned out any attempts of protest from the blushing Leia and bashfully grinning Wedge. They clinked their mugs shyly and drank each other's health, still protesting that they'd done nothing but what anybody would have done in the same circumstance. Plus, they hadn't even known the Tantive IV was carrying blaster cannons.
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Leia lay awake in her darkened room aboard the Tantive IV, on her way home at last with an empty cargo bay. She was actually sorry to leave the rag-tag fleet of homeships belonging to the displaced Calamari. She hadn't expected to find so much in common with a group of people who challenged the legitimate government.
Seeing the homeless refugees of a destroyed world had changed Leia's opinion of rebels. Seeing them simply celebrating like ordinary folks at a get-together had made her see something more about these people. They were not all terrorists and murderers. Most were intelligent. Passionate. Funny. Cheerful. They loved simple things and wanted to be left in peace to enjoy them. And they all agreed about one thing. The Empire was a brutal totalitarian machine that crushed opposition instead of dialoging. It condemned the very differences it outwardly embraced in media and speech. Leia had been appalled to realize that nearly every Calamari there had a tale of the Empire's tyrannical reign. A mother had barely been able to hold back tears when she related how the Empire had retaliated against a peaceful protest by shooting into a crowd of schoolchildren, killing her two sons and a daughter. A male had showed her some scars from Imperial interrogation, and still suffered from chronically dry eyes after a dehydration torture. A few humans among Antilles' crew had similar stories. Children forcibly taken for the Imperial Academy. Spouses arrested and never heard of again, or worse, executed publicly. Brothers, sisters, parents, all horrifically punished for the supposed crimes of their family members, or for no other reason than that they wouldn't relinquish the deed for a piece of land that had been in their family for generations.
It isn't fair, Leia thought with righteous fury. And I will help to stop it. I will help to build a New Republic. It won't be perfect, but at least people will be free to make their mistakes, and the ordinary ones would be free to just live. The way they needed to. I'm a diplomat born. And I will use my gifts to make a difference.
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Another chapter up! This story has about 8 chapters, so we are more than halfway through this drama. Thanks for following, favoriting, and reviewing! You all are awesome!