1/12/2

Threepio may have thought he was joining the Order to set up a diplomatic corp.

And, to a degree, he's working on that. (Trying at least. Even the Resistance was better organized and more ready to go out the gate than The Order's "Diplomatic Service.")

But, from everything he can see, what he's actually doing is handling the new department of… Jon doesn't have a name for it yet. Whatever they're going to call The Order's offerings of neutral space, contract negotiation, mediation, and the like.

The Court of Ren. He's heard Lady Kinear call it that. Threepio doesn't like thinking of it like that, but… That's probably what he's building. And, honestly, he's not going to come up with a better name for it, so he might as well jot the damn thing down and fly it past Lt. Colonel Frakes, and have him light up like an overtaxed puppy offered a yummy supper, because he does that every time someone hits him with a good idea, which at first was rather gratifying, but it's getting to the point where Threepio's beginning to wonder if Kylo's attempting to run this whole thing with just one other person because the Lt. Colonel, if he had a proper staff, shouldn't be so overtaxed that literally any even remotely good idea is a lifesaver for the guy.

(Or, as R2 says when Threepio remarks on it, perhaps it has been a while since he's been around someone who's been willing to actually show appreciation for good ideas and he should just enjoy it.)

And, apparently, if you have the space, and the guns to back up the promise of security, people will come. And when they come, they get sent to Threepio, who does his best to chat with them, answer questions, and find out if they're serious about this, and what it is they want and need out of the situation.

(He also spends some time pondering the idea of… well… them offering mediation and neutral space and… courts… and if justice is a concept he should allow to flit through his mind, and if he does, if they're anything approaching near the right people for the job. He does his best not to think on that too often or too hard. Because there are days where he's sure he could do a better job at this justice thing than any six humans, trying their hardest, and then there are days where Artoo pokes him in the hubris and reminds him he's a persnickety bag of bolts with too much affection for a long gone age.)

So, when he has a name on his list for his 15:00 appointment, he doesn't think twice about it.

That's not quite true. When he sees he has an appointment, he doesn't think twice about it. He has lots of appointments. When he actually looks at the appointment, and sees the name on it, he doesn't just think twice, he thinks 2,968,737 times.

After all, these days, seeing Organa show up on his to-do list is decidedly not common.

Before he was Princess Leia's personal protocol droid, he was Bail Organa's protocol droid. And before that… Well, he's got a sense there was a before that, because sometimes Artoo makes comments that indicate there was a before, but he doesn't remember it. And, at this point in his life, he assumes that if he does not know about the time before that, it's likely for the best.

That said, there was a time when See-Threepio, lived (dwelled?) and worked, at the side of the Viceroy, First Chairman of Alderaan, First Senator of Alderaan, His Royal Highness, the Prince Consort Bail Organa.

And, though it is true that Bail spent quite a bit of time on Coruscant, he made sure to get home at least a few times a season.

And when he returned home, Threepio went with him. And when he'd return home, he'd spend time with his family. Of course, his wife and daughter, but also his brother, his brother's wife, and his nephews and nieces.

As best Threepio knows, on the day Alderaan was destroyed, the galaxy lost twenty-one of twenty-three Organas.

Leia's cousin Almath, who was fifteen at the time, and actually on Coruscant, an 'aid to the senator,' was spending his time 'learning the trade' but mostly he was getting coffee for his Uncle and his guests, and being introduced to important people, was the other one to survive.

Unfortunately, they didn't get him off of Coruscant quickly enough, and before the Rebellion even knew he was still alive, the Empire had grabbed him.

Five years in an Imperial prison did exactly nothing to make Almath think that politics was anything he wanted anything to do with ever again, and the minute a site for New Alderaan had been chosen, he promptly moved there, built a place to live, opened a fairly nice little bakery, and made it abundantly clear that they could not make him go into politics, even if his literal life, did in fact, depend on it.

It didn't.

So, as Leia joined the New Republic Senate as the First Senator from New Alderaan, as she batted aside taking her position as Queen of New Alderaan, saying that she was needed in the Senate more, and as Ania Antilles 'volunteered' to 'take the burden of the day-to-day tasks on New Alderaan,' (and plotted Leia's downfall), Almath got married, had a few children, made some awfully good bread, and did his best to forget that he'd ever been part of the royal family.

No one else on New Alderaan did, though, and when it became clear he could not be pulled from his kitchen, and when Leia fell… was pushed… from grace because of her birth father, the powers that were came for his children.

Samath and Bail Organa (he named his sons after his father and uncle) were barely out of their teens when they jumped into the world of Alderaanian politics.

And now, about twelve years later, Threepio sits in his office, on the ship that belongs to an Organa who has shunned that name (though maybe not that legacy, maybe, if this justice thing is in the offing, if Kylo Ren would know justice if it walked up and bit him on the ass) as another Organa seeks an appointment with him.

Artoo chirps at him, and Threepio nods, saying, "You're right Artoo, this is a meeting I never expected to preside over."

Artoo, still claiming that Threepio needs to hire some staff, because getting drinks and seeing people in is not his job, shows Samath Organa in. (And then fetches him a drink. But he complains vigorously while he does it.)

Samath takes one look at him, and sighs, nods, and then says, "When I saw who I had the appointment with, I did wonder." Then he crosses the room, and, confused, stops. "I… Do we shake hands? What's the protocol on this?"

Threepio stands up from behind his desk. He's getting fairly smooth at it, and is thinking it's likely time to see about an upgrade on his knee and hip joints. (He doesn't need to sit. It's not like he gets tired. And though he can sit, he was built to stand. But he has noticed that, in endeavors like these, servants stand. Equals sit. So General Threepio sits. Even if his body isn't ideally suited for it.) "Lord Organa, I'll have to admit, that in this particular case, I do not, in fact, know." He gestures to his guest. "That said, my hands are not particularly good for shaking. Humans find them cold, and the joints don't quite move the way they should."

"Then we'll pass on that." Samath takes the drink from Artoo. Then he looks at the droid more carefully. "Oh my. We've never met, but I've seen pictures of you, before."

Artoo makes his snigger beep, and tells Threepio that everyone and their cousin has seen pictures of him, so…

"Artoo says hello."

Liar.

Threepio doesn't respond to that. "Well, Lord Organa… You're the one who set the meeting… What can I… or the Order… do for you? I can't imagine you're in need of neutral meeting space, or you desire a protection contract."

"Three… General… Shall we be formal, or will you be Threepio and I'll be Samath, and we'll remember the few times I visited my aunty and you did your best to pretend you didn't disapprove of me playing in her chambers."

"However you like, Samath."

"Good. I am here, not, at least, right now, as the personal adjutant to the current Queen of New Alderaan, but as the head of the Organa family."

Threepio knows that's a lie, and Artoo beeps liar again. If this were just about the Organa family, the only member of it who currently spends more than half of his waking hours with the Queen of Alderaan, who keeps him near expressly to bolster her own, non-blood claim, would not be here.

"Then I'd imagine the stories coming out about Kylo Ren has you… interested in him for those reasons."

"I'll admit, seeing you here makes me think they aren't just stories."

"They aren't. He is the son of Leia Organa and Han Solo."

"So… cousin Ben is no longer missing."

"I'd highly suggest not attempting to call him that."

"Ah… Yes, he has taken a new name." Samath looks utterly unconcerned by that.

"And, as best as anyone knows, has no interest in resurrecting the old one."

"Ah… Do you think…" Samath sips his drink. "Would he be willing to… Meet with me?"

Threepio pauses for a moment on that. Not to think. He doesn't need to pause to think. His own internal processing is a billion times faster than the average human's. No, he pauses, because humans pause when they want to indicate that something is important. Finally, he says, "About what? Not to be rude, but the Master is insanely busy, and family reunions are so far down on his list of things to do, I have a feeling both of you will be old and gray before he'd have what he'd consider a free moment for it."

"That is fair. A busy man likely doesn't have time for a cousin he's never met."

"That is true. I'm sorry you took the time to come here."

"It's only a few hours. Do you, perhaps, know what has happened to my Aunty?"

One of the great advantages of a metal face and an electronic voice is that when it comes to lying, Threepio has no tells. "When last I saw her, she had just disbanded the Resistance."

He nods, and looks at Threepio. "And now you find yourself a General in the Army you were Resisting?"

"I find myself a General in the diplomatic service of the Order, with whom I've never been at war." Threepio's not entirely sure if that's a lie or not. It's true enough. Maybe. For now. "When the First Order shut down, the Resistance shut down with it." That's not precisely true, either, but it will also hold, for now.

"The Order, that just happens to be run by a man who claims to be the son of Leia Organa."

"The man who is the son of Leia Organa."

"Ah… yes…" Samath steeples his fingers. "And again we find ourselves contemplating Ben Organa-Solo."

Threepio would wince if he could, but he can't, and this is his job, so… "Master Ren. For all practical purposes, Ben Organa-Solo is and has been dead for quite some time."

Samath's eyes glint. "And what about legal purposes?"

If Threepio's eyes could glint, they would. "Legally is, of course, an entirely different matter, Lord Organa."

Samath nods. "Of course. And since I cannot get a meeting as a cousin looking to reconnect with family, how about this, as the legal and diplomatic representative of Heloise Talmash, the Queen of Alderaan, who is, of course, concerned about stories indicating that there is a blood heir of Breha Organa, who has, as of this point, made nothing about his intentions toward us clear, other than, without notice, making a direct claim to our throne, I am formally requesting an audience with Kylo Ren, to ascertain if he is, in fact, Ben Organa-Solo, and if so, what he intends to do about New Alderaan."

Threepio nods. "I have a feeling that Kylo Ren has little interest in meeting long lost cousins for the sake of family ties. That said, Master Ren likely can squeeze some time out of his schedule in order to clarify his position in regards to the fact that he is the legitimate heir to the throne of New Alderaan."

Samath's eyes narrow. "He can't be. His mother laid down both her and his claim."

Threepio's voice is sharp. "And you know just as well as I do that she didn't have the power to lay his claim aside. If you're here to chat about this, it means someone finally looked up his birthday. He's the legal descendant of the last legitimate Queen of Alderaan, the last woman of the right blood, who properly observed the rites, and passed the trials, and should he decide to engage in the trials, he has a claim to your throne, and honestly, as I'm sure you and your queen know, a substantially better one than she does."

"He couldn't pass the Day of Demand trials."

"No, Lord Organa, he has no interest in passing them. I daresay he can and will do anything he chooses to do. But that is neither here nor there. I will speak to his adjutant, arrange a meeting with him, and if he deems you fit to see the Master, he'll arrange it for you."

Once Samath is gone, Artoo says, It'd be easier if you just talked to Ben directly.

"I know. I don't enjoy speaking to him directly. I do enjoy speaking to Lt. Colonel Frakes."

You're wasting time.

"Fops like Samath consider anyone higher than me getting back to him quickly a sign of unimportance. I'll talk to Lt. Colonel Frakes about it the day after tomorrow. In the meantime, Samath can… get a sense of the scale and power of the Supremacy."

You like this too much.

"Probably. Who's next on the list?"

How should I bloody know? I'm not your secretary.

"If I actually hired you, would you be?"

Of course not!

"Of course. Well, whoever's up next, fetch them a drink and make them comfortable."

I don't work for you.

"Of course." Threepio turns to his datapad to see who's up next. "And while you're not working for me, would you be willing to put a trace on all communications that originate from Lord Organa? I want to see who he's talking to and what he's saying."

Not very diplomatic of you, Artoo says, sounding absurdly pleased with both himself and Threepio right now.

"And this isn't about diplomacy. This is about family."

I didn't think you considered Ben family.

"I don't. But his mother was dearer to me than any other human I'd had the pleasure of meeting and working with, and if those same… traitors… who forced her to give up her birthright are going to try the same maneuver again on her son, I am going to stop them."

You know, you're a lot more fun now that you're in charge.

Threepio inclines his head slightly. "Thank you?"

You're welcome. I'll have his communications soon.

And once he's alone in his office, he does have to admit, there is something to be said about owning the fact that he's the only one, really, he has to answer to. After all, if Kylo doesn't like it, well… He can just…

Threepio is fluent in over six million forms of communication, and when using any of those forms with another sentient he's unfailingly polite. Usually.

It's probably good that fewer than fifteen humanoids are conversant in the hexagoric script used by drinary op mechs. That said, they've got a… colorful patois… well beyond most machines, likely because they spend a lot of time with mech operators who are… not the nicest people in the history of people.

Anyway, if any of them were to hear what it was Kylo Ren could just do if he didn't like what Threepio was up to… well, their audio processing organs might have melted.

Threepio, having thought it, feels perversely satisfied, and is beginning to understand why Artoo curses all the time.

1/13/2

"Lt. Colonel…" Threepio says as he enters Jon's office. It's an… interesting is probably the best word, space.

Technically, Lt. Colonel Jon Frakes is the officer in charge of the Order's Tactical Design Unit. That's what it says on the door. In that his office is in a bay that overlooks a horde of specialized mechs and droids who do nothing but produce the personal military equipment of every member of the Order, he's certainly in the right place for it.

And, inside his office, there are specs for armor, for uniforms, for boots, and hats, and ID badges, and even silly, boring things like socks. (Though proper socks, made of the right materials, keep feet warm, dry, infection and fungus free, and free up something along the lines of 36.2 million credits a year in medical expenses and close to 53,000 hours of lost time spent on light or no duty recuperating from said medical adventures. Now, multiply those benefits through each item, though said benefits are, of course, tailored to each item, and change by season and specialty, and… It's a complicated job.)

There are posters on the walls of different palaces.

There are books. Real, physical books, jumbled with page markers, of both ships and more palaces.

There are stacks of datapads, filled with all sorts of reports ranging from, again, extremely practical and easily overlooked issues, like how switching to a hydro-copper mesh in the filtration system on the Stormtrooper face masks cut down on bacterial infections among Stormtroopers, to full on transcripts of every conversation that all of those nifty blind corners he planted in the First Year party saw witness to.

He is, at least as best as Threepio can see, the most over-scheduled man in the Order.

"Lt. Colonel, would you be horrified if I said that you really need a secretary," he says as he sits in the chair across from Jon's desk.

"No. And you'd be right. It's on my to-do list."

"Do you not currently have a second-in-command?"

"I do, and she's currently running Tactical Design so I have time to do things like meet with you and have a chat about…" he shuffles through his notes, "Samath Organa… I should know that name, shouldn't I?"

"Likely, yes, sir."

"You really can call me Jon."

"It seems unfitting."

"Then call me sir all you like, but… I prefer Jon."

"Very well… Jon. Do you mind, I've never had a title before, and I prefer being called by it."

Jon smiles at that. "I don't mind at all, General. When I got my first stripe I had everyone nearby salute me until they got concussions."

Threepio's not sure what to do with that. He thinks Jon's joking, but his face is serious enough, he might not be.

"Well, General, tell me about this Organa, and why I should know… his?" Threepio nods, "name."

"What do you know of Alderaanian politics, Jon?"

Jon slumps back against his chair. "Just enough to know that if you're asking me about them, I'm not going to enjoy this conversation much."

"That is likely correct."

Jon stares at the ceiling of his office and blows out a frustrated breath. Threepio wasn't kidding. Alderaanian politics is a quagmire. "Just to make absolutely sure… He really is Ben Solo, right? I know it's a long shot, but…"

"I've known that man since literally the day he was born. I can run the retina scans against my own database of images of him which go back to him at seven hours old. He is absolutely Ben Solo."

"Okay, good. So… what is the issue? We've got a prince of Alderaan. They would prefer we didn't, but…"

"They are going to ask for a blood test." At least that's what Artoo had been able to uncover. Along with the fact that the internals of New Alderaan are, apparently, a tad shakier than they'd like to let on. The downside of a coup, is once you've run one, other people get the idea they can run one, too, and if your government is expressly non-violent, that leaves you a tad limited in ways to deal with potential usurpers.

The absolute last thing Queen Heloise wants is an actual blood (legal) heir for her opposition to rally around.

Jon nods. "All right. I guess… I mean I can see him not wanting to let someone else get a tube of his blood. No telling what they'd do with it."

"Jon…" Threepio's voice is as patient as it can get. "That's not the issue at play. At least, I sincerely doubt it would be." Though he does put a mental note in place. In a galaxy of clones, it likely is a good idea not to let the genetic material of anyone important to the Order to get out. "Breha Organa is, for very few Alderaanians, a living memory. She's much more an ideal than a person. But once upon a time, she was a girl, and to prove her worth as a potential queen, as all true rulers of Alderaan must," Though both Ania and her daughter, Heloise, did not. Things were 'different' on New Alderaan. "she set three trials for herself as her Day of Demand.

"And the first two she passed splendidly. But on the third she fell. A terrible fall. It cost her her heart and lungs. The doctors were able to set her up with prosthetics, and she proudly let them show. Many people would remark about the fact that she was so light and warm that her heart literally glowed. It glowed because it was mechanical.

"And though she survived the fall, she was unable to bear children of her own."

Jon's eyes close and then open slowly. "Oh."

"And I see you have sussed out the issue. Leia Organa, child of Anakin Skywalker, was adopted by Bail and Breha Organa. It wasn't a secret, though it also wasn't openly discussed or mentioned, that Leia was not the natural child of Breha Organa. The Queen and her consort did not keep their many miscarriages a secret, preferring not to attempt to mourn in secret. Many people assumed, though, again, this was gossip, and not openly spoken of, that Leia was the child of Bail Organa by any number of women he was friendly with who didn't happen to be his wife. Given who her actual father was, it's entirely likely Bail, with Breha's consent and encouragement, started that rumor himself. Fifteen years ago now, Ania Antilles and Jaxon Talmash used the fact that Leia Organa was the child of Vader to force her out of her birthright as the Queen of Alderaan. And doing so, they were able to start the ball rolling on the strike that would eventually push her out of the Senate of the New Republic

"Officially, she signed away her rights to the throne of Alderaan, as well as Ben Solo's."

"Why are they even bothering then?"

Threepio back tracks in the story. "Because of the dangers… Ben Solo was barely walking the first time someone attempted an assassination strike against him."

"Why were people trying to kill Kylo… As a toddler?"

"Revenge, mostly." Threepio's voice is flat as he says that. "I'd assume you'd…"

Jon blinks.

Threepio decides that the young Lt. Colonel is in fact young and likely does not know how many 'ex-Imperials' who lost 'everything' in the war decided that a suicide mission to destroy that which was most precious to Leia Organa, the face of the New Republic, was a worthwhile endeavor. "Incorrectly, apparently. Anyway, after that, Han and Leia kept details about him, like for example, where he lived, or that he even existed, quiet. He, like Orlac Calrissian, could have been born in the limelight and grown up in front of billions as a poster child for the New Republic. Han and Leia chose not to do that with their son. As such, when Ania and Jaxon came for Leia, they did not, apparently, know Ben's birthday. And, the last time anyone had seen him in public, he had been a child. So, it appears they were under the impression that Ben Solo was quite a bit younger than he actually was. Leia, once they were there, was able to play on their sense of 'fair play' and 'kindness to the vanquished' to let her have her position for one last Concordance day."

Jon looks blank, but he can feel that's got to be important.

Threepio correctly interprets that look. "Ben was born on the original Concordance Day. By pushing the contract to the far side of the celebrations, she signed it days after he was legally an adult by the standards of Alderaan. Meaning she no longer had the ability to sign away his rights."

Jon's rubbing his forehead. "So, Kylo Ren tells the galaxy his birth name, someone on New Alderaan finally checked how old he was, noticed that he's still a going concern, and now they're going to ask for a blood test he can't pass, hoping that no one remembers the fact that he never could have passed it, and… they don't rally behind him?"

"Or some version of that. I assume they want his blood to discredit him and any claim he may have."

"The grandson of Vader thing won't be enough?"

"I have a feeling the son of Leia Organa, especially among the faction that did not approve of forcing her out in the first place, will carry more weight than the grandson of Vader."

"Assuming the ones who booted Leia out don't flash too many pictures of him in the mask, waving the red lightsaber around?" Jon asks, voice dry.

Threepio would shudder at that, if he could, but he can't, so doesn't. He can sigh though. "Well, yes, I suppose there is that."

1/15/2

Jon listens to Samath Organa, as he lays out the pieces of his concerns.

Namely, he doesn't want a self-proclaimed King of New Alderaan marching his millions of troops into the place and taking over. And, he'd also like proof as to if Kylo Ren is in fact, in the running for King of Alderaan, one way or another.

Jon nods. He looks to Threepio, and nods again, and says, "Yes… Those are valid concerns. I can assure you, Lord Organa, that the one thing the Order does not do is conquer. Kylo Ren will not be marching our men through New Alderaan to claim it for his own. People come to us. Not the other way around. That is an unalterable, bedrock principal of the Order. Beyond that… If you can stay another night or two, I'm sure I can arrange a time for you to speak to Master Ren directly, because he's the one who will consider the rest of your request."

Samath appears pleased by finally getting time with Master Ren. "Of course, and yes, I can enjoy another night or two of your hospitality, especially if I can get a promise of non-aggression in writing."

"I'm sure we can accommodate you, both as a matter of your physical body, and as a political reality," Threepio says.

"Thank you."

Jon looks tired when he sidles into Kylo's office moments before he'd usually head home.

Kylo can feel it off of Jon. He glances at the food in front of him. Skimpy portions for three, but they've got cookies at home. "Dinner?"

"Yeah."

Once there, Jon flops back into the blue armchair, loosening his collar, as Kylo says hello to Rey.

"What blew up today?" she asks.

"I don't know, yet," Kylo replies. "Do we want Poe for this?"

Jon shrugs. He can't, off the top of his head, think of any reason they'd need Poe for this, but he certainly doesn't mind him being here. Maybe he'll have some good ideas. "You got enough food to stretch that far enough for four of us?"

"We'll make it work," Rey says. "I'll get him."

"Tell him to bring a bottle, too."

Kylo's staring at Jon. "How bad is this?"

"I'm not sure."

Kylo puts the cookies on the table, and divvies up supper, a rabbit stew, into four bowls. "You feel… disconcerted?"

"Probably a good term for it."

"Your mom?"

"Fortunately, no. Not now. Hell, maybe I can use her on this. Have her wander over and have a chat…" Jon's pondering the angles on that. (And wondering if his mom already has found Samath, and what she might do with a genuine Organa if she found him… Maybe not a great plan…)

Kylo lets him ponder, as he checks the cooler to see if they have any greens. They do. He adds them to the table.

"What's going on?" Poe says as soon as he and Rey are back, and he spies Jon sprawled out in the comfy chair.

"We don't know, yet," Rey says.

"Well…" Poe says, putting his own supper on the table, and the bottle of Correllian whiskey. Kylo winces at it. His dad and Lando used to drink it, and he always hated the smell. And, of course, it was the first alcohol he and his knights got a hold of, so it's also eternally burned into his mind with the worst hangover of his life.

Jon gets up and moves toward the table as they start to divvy up the rest of the meal. "Threepio got a visitor recently. He gets a lot of them. Most of them are people looking to take advantage of what we're offering. Or at least ask about it. This one just didn't know the right way to get a hold of us, and figured that would be the easiest way to move up the chain."

"And it was?" Rey says.

"And it was," Jon replies. "Threepio listens, thinks, gets me, I chat with him, and now I'm here."

"Still not having told us what's going on," Kylo says, pointedly.

"Samath Organa, Bail Organa's great nephew, current secretary to the Queen of Alderaan, and if I'm understanding the bloodlines correctly, your cousin, would like to know, on behalf of New Alderaan, and her Royal Highness, Queen of New Alderaan Heloise Talmaash, if Kylo Ren would be willing to take a blood test to prove once and for all that he either is, or is not, the man who used to be Ben Organa-Solo, only direct, living descendant of the last, legitimate Queen of Alderaan."

The four of them think about that for a moment, and then Kylo tentatively says, "Uh… And this is an issue because?"

"Because, if Threepio is correct, you do not, in fact, have any direct DNA links to what used to be the royal family of Alderaan, what with your mother having been adopted, and unless they have your mother's blood on file, you cannot pass a DNA test."

Poe's seeing it, remembering it, too. He was part of Leia's security team when they toppled her, using her father's name. "They beat your mom out of the running for Queen of Alderaan because she was Vader's child, so… Why are they trying to check you, and who are they intending to run your blood against?"

Rey looks to him, thinking of Kinear's lesson on Amidala, "And who might they actually find if they did that test."

Jon sees that and says, "Okay… Wait. I know that look," he turns to Kylo. "What skeletons are hiding in your DNA?"

Kylo half-shrugs. "Vader's wife was Padme Amidala, former queen of Naboo."

Jon groans. "Oh… That's a million messes all waiting to happen."

"So, just say no," Poe says.

"As soon as he says no, the claim that he's Leia Organa's son blows up. People will be suspicious as to why he's not willing to verify it," Jon replies.

"Well, it's a stupidly specific lie if it's not real," Kylo bites out, chewing a bite of his supper.

"Always, always tell specific lies. Preferably of the sort you know check out. Vague lies look like lies. Specific lies, especially stupid, inconvenient ones, sound truer," Poe says.

Jon nudges his supper. "Are there… pictures of you with your parents?"

"Not that I have, and not ones that couldn't be faked." He shakes his head, and looks at Poe, "Did she still have the house in Chandrilla?"

Poe shakes his head. "Sold it a long time ago and put the credits into the Resistance."

Kylo shrugs. "The only place I knew of where she might have had things… Apparently sold a long time ago. They registered me as Ben Organa-Solo as soon as my eyes finished shifting from blue to brown. My retinas and finger marks will match."

"Okay, we can just go with that," Jon says, looking relieved.

Kylo and Rey don't.

Poe again notices that. "Out with it."

"A bit less than a year ago, Ben Solo became Ben Amidala, and gained a wife, Rey Amidala."

"In the official register?" Jon asks.

Kylo nods.

Jon groans and bangs his head against the table.

"So, you're saying, the only direct route between Kylo Ren and Leia Organa requires a detour through Ben Amidala, and you're thinking that'll cause issues?" Poe says. "Is Naboo really that big of a deal?"

Rey shrugs. "The Kinears thought it might be. Not for us, personally, but if we have a daughter…"

"She'll pass the blood test, and someone will be jockeying for her to be the next Queen of Naboo," Jon says.

Poe shrugs. "So, this might be an issue, if a child you don't have, gets enough support from people who don't know you exist as an option, decide to make it an issue. I mean… if they get annoying about it, can't you just say, 'No?' My dad told me I couldn't do things all the time. 'No baby, you can't rule Naboo!' Problem done, right?"

The look on Jon's face, aimed at Poe, is best described as fed up with amateurs. "The easiest way to secure your rule is to make sure there are no other options. In blood monarchies, that's often done with discreet poisons. According to Threepio, that's the real reason why we've got Organa sitting in the Supremacy. Whether there's any chance of you taking the job or not, the existence of options is destabilizing, and Queen Talmaash is apparently already on shaky ground as it is. As long as you, or your children, can make a decent royal claim, there will be people trying to manipulate that," Jon says.

The four of them are quiet for a moment, and then Jon says, "How badly would changing back to Solo hurt?"

Kylo winces.

Then Poe sniggers, a bit, it's not happy, ironic mostly. "What was the last thing Lor San Tekka said to you? You cannot deny the truth of your family?"

Kylo rolls his eyes extravagantly. "Amidala is one of my family names. Of the lot of them, it's the only one I can stand."

Rey's voice is quiet as she says, "It's also the only family name I've ever had."

Jon's looking at both of them, feeling a lot of years and history, all aching through this name thing.

Poe's watching them, seems to feel how… intense the Rens are on this, and decides to not push it. He then says, "How good is you sabbac face?"

Kylo raises an eyebrow.

"Tell 'em to fuck themselves sideways if they ask. No blood tests, no proof, leave it at if they press it, you'll prove it, but make them press it. Unless they're dead certain you aren't the real deal, they won't, because their position becomes weaker if you prove you're the heir of Alderaan, right?"

Kylo glances at Jon, who nods at that.

Poe continues, "And if they're any good at this, they've got to wonder who Vader's Lady was, and are likely concerned about what that might come up with… So… Just leave it be and dare them to up the bet."

That response makes a lot of sense. Kylo instinctively likes it, but… Well, it's also the answer that lets him ignore the problem that much longer. He looks to Rey. "Lady Amidala?"

She squeezes his hand. "Always."

"That said," Jon adds, "you know that as of ten minutes after you claimed yourself Ben Solo, at least twenty of the people who attended that gathering looked you up."

Poe waves that away. "Once you've done a name change, you've got to know to look through the alias search. Ben Solo turns up nothing, at least not on this one, anymore. Now if they're clever enough to put it into the alias search…"

Rey takes a bite of her supper, and then says, "You run the register, right?"

Jon nods. "The Order does."

"Can't you… lock certain people down? Make them unsearchable? Set it up so that if someone looks them up, you get a report, and then… I don't know, you feed them whatever it is you want them to know?"

Poe's grinning. "We… uh… did that on occasion. Had a few slicers slip in and… modify some of our member searches."

Kylo groans, pulls a datapad to himself, and then makes a note for himself: Make sure register is secure. "Why is it my to-do list never gets shorter?"

It's a lot later that night, when Kylo and Rey are floating around in his bath, relaxing, getting ready to play, and then sleep, that he says, "I told you about Mirina visiting, right?"

Sometimes their minds are so close, he doesn't need to tell. Sometimes he does. And he's not always entirely sure if they've spoken about whatever it was, or if she just picked it up from him.

Rey nods to him. "Yes. And Jon being less than thrilled about her deciding to take over the Order and shape it in her own image. Which I don't disagree with, for the record."

Kylo nods. "Just, poke me, if it looks like she's doing too much directing and not enough taking orders."

Rey's skeptical of her poking ability in the face of Mirnia telling people how to do things, and they both sense it. Finally, she says, "Okay. So…"

"I was thinking about Amidala, and… How that's the name I gravitated to."

"Beyond it being the only one you knew…"

"I mean… Thinking about it… Organa, Antillies, Skywalker, Solo, and Amidala. I'm not short on family names."

"Antillies?"

"My grandmother's maiden name."

"You aren't kidding about not being short on names."

"Queen of Alderaan, Breha Antillies-Organa. There are probably entire libraries devoted to her as a ruler. We wouldn't have to scrounge around in a local library to find one book."

"She… ruled for more than fifteen years, right?"

"Yes, and she was the last Queen of a centuries long ruling family…" He pushes off the back wall of the bath, and shifts a bit, floating on his back, not sitting against the side. "She told me stories about her. A few of the nannies did, too. But… No spark there." He dips under the water, and splashes up a second later, pushing wet hair out of his face. "She didn't… capture my imagination the way Amidala did."

"Because she was real?" Rey's still at the edge of the bath, sitting against the edge, letting the water surround and keep her warm.

"I don't know that. The stories I got… She was… perfect. Effortlessly wise and just and calm and settled, ruling over a peaceful planet of peaceful people who got along in harmony and joy."

"How your mother understood her mother."

"Her idealized version of someone she loved. That was true. That was always true in those stories. So much love for her, so much loss. She stopped telling me them after a while, because they'd make me cry. She was projecting her own loss. I mean, I can't imagine I had that much empathy for a lost world as a six-year-old."

Rey tries to imagine six-year-old Ben. She can easily imagine him having that sort of empathy. She can also easily imagine him feeling his mother's sorrow for her loss. She steps off the side to stand next to where he's floating, resting her hand on his chest.

"Perfect didn't interest you?"

"Maybe. Or maybe I got too cynical about it."

She can see that.

"But… Padme… Amidala. I said it to Mirina. Didn't know I was saying it when I did, but… I told her that she got caught in a terrible bargain by the Force. Powers she didn't understand, couldn't control, pulled her about like a toy, and all she could do was her best." He shifts again, so he's kneeling on the base of the pool, and snuggles into Rey, his face against her belly. "I was… obviously, better equipped to deal with what came my way, but…"

She can feel the shape of but. She still thinks it's important for him to say.

"I asked Mirina if it seemed like they had two Padmes. One who was all in on moving the Empire forward, and another who wasn't, and she said that that matched her memory fairly well." He kisses her belly, and she pets his wet hair. "I feel like there were two Kylos sometimes. Snoke's toy, and your… my… Kylo."

She kisses the top of his head. "The real Kylo."

He nods at that. "There had to have been two Padmes. The real one, who… was a queen, and trying for peace, and didn't want an Emperor. Anakin said she was fond of Obi Wan, and… she was a girl once, so she had to have had wants and needs and friends and… And there was Vader's Padme, pulled to him, and his wants, and his needs, and…"

"That feels real to you."

"It does." He scoots back a little so he can look up at her, and her hands find his face. "I… feel good, settled with Ren. It's real, and it fits in a way Solo never did or could. But Amidala isn't far under the surface and," he's staring up at her, figuring out how to put these feelings to words, "that struggle, how you gave me the strength to pull out of it, triumph over it," he kisses her belly again, and holds her tight, "You're not dead. Padme is." He nuzzles against her. "Amidala triumphant. The story rewritten, and this time, we win. Love wins. He said he never loved her. When the time came, he didn't choose her." He holds her close, ear to her chest, feeling her heartbeat, listening to her breath, feeling her, real, here now, in his arms. Feeling the love between them, and seeing that moment, Snoke behind her, the saber in his hands, and the cliff he was about to leap off of. "You chose me, and I chose you, and it got off to a rocky start, but…" and for another moment, he just holds her. "We won, and… It's not just the only family name you've officially had, it's… Us."

She kisses him, sweetly, bending to reach his lips. "It's being better than the people who came before us."

He nods, kissing her back. "It's putting each other first."

"Then we'll lock it away. Keep it for ourselves and our children. Like Kinear said, we'll have our public name, shield, and this is… us."

He nods, holding her close. "This is us."

1/16/2

Kylo eyes Organa as he enters. There is, of course, no family resemblance. That said they both have black hair.

Organa is darker-skinned, with a neat black beard, and, from the pictures he's seen, bares a strong resemblance to his grandfather. He looks about as much like Kylo as Poe does.

They go through the niceties, make some small talk while Kylo offers him coffee, and then spend a quiet moment just staring at each other.

Finally, Kylo say, "I take it we're cousins, then?"

"You're claiming we are. I'm here to see about finding out if you can back that up."

Kylo nods. "I'll admit, that's the bit I'm curious about. It wasn't a secret that Leia Organa was adopted, so… Who exactly do you intend to test me against? You and I shouldn't have any matching DNA."

Apparently, Kylo wasn't supposed to know that. That said, Samath's got a cover lie. "The rumor was, she was Bail's."

Kylo can't believe that he's going to try that line. "Bail Organa and Darth Vader… The Force works in mysterious ways, Lord Organa, but I've never yet heard of it allowing two men to make a baby with each other. Likewise, absolutely no one was under the impression that Darth Vader was a woman."

"Under the mask and armor, who could have possibly told?" Though Organa has the grace to look mildly chagrined after trying that line.

Kylo catches the annoyance in Organa's mind. Given how far outside the circles of Alderaan that Ben Solo was raised, they were hoping he'd be completely ignorant.

"It's true that I was kept out of Alderaanian politics. I didn't know I was in the running until after she signed away my rights. It's true that she hid me away and out of eyes of the galaxy at large. That said, even I paid enough attention to know who her father really was," Kylo says. "So, let's try this, what, exactly do you want my blood for, then?"

That gets a minute flicker of an eyelid.

"Ah… You didn't. You know I wouldn't match any other Organa, so you'd toss the vial aside, and loudly tell everyone on the planet I didn't match up, never specifically claim I'm a liar, but hint at it, and hope most of the people who knew Leia Organa was adopted either forgot or kept quiet."

That gets the barest hint of a glare. Kylo's not sure if he could have read that without the Force.

"I take it you will not be offering up a blood sample, then," Samath says.

"No. I will not."

Samath nods to him. "We, of course, expected that."

"Of course."

"I've talked to your underlings, they tell me that, here, ruling over a massive pile of weapons, among them guns big enough to blow a planet to pieces, the grandson of Vader sits, and intends to do nothing about New Alderaan."

Kylo cocks his head. He wouldn't have put it that way, but all the particulars of that sentence are correct. "I have no interest in New Alderaan. In time, I may get recruiting stations there, but that's as far as I want to go. I understand New Alderaan has free travel, and your citizens may come and go as they please. Thus, any Alderaanian who wishes to be ruled by me, knows how to get to me. Satisfactory?"

Organa nods slightly. That's not satisfactory, none of this is satisfactory. That said, getting a blood sample to thoroughly discredit Kylo Ren and put this whole thing to bed, would have been tolerable. But this is, realistically, as good as he's going to get. He's staring at Kylo, really looking at him. "I expected more of your grandfather in you."

Kylo shrugs. He knows that Bail Organa isn't the grandfather Organa's talking about. "And I've been doing my best to be my own man for years now."

Organa nods. "Your…" His lips purse, he's not exactly sure what Jon is. Obviously more than the Lt. Colonel his rank suggests. "Friend, told me that a non-aggression pact could be arranged."

"Easily. Like I said, I have no interest in New Alderaan. That said, Alderaan has a long and glorious history of not exactly being as politically neutral and uninvolved as it claims to be, so you'll forgive me if I seek independent verification of your non-aggression."

"And will you blow us out of the galaxy if we take sides?"

Kylo smiles at him. "No. I'll find the ones of you who are fighting against me, and punish them directly. Then I'll destroy that military you claim not to have, cripple your economy, and offer you 'protection' while you rebuild, then recruit freely among your best and brightest. Have a chat with Ambassador D'Vrys of the Qualee if you'd like to see what I do to people who fight against me."

"She's Prima of the Council now, and I already have."

"Wise man. My legal department will likely be able to draw up terms in a month or so, and I'm sure in less than a year, we'll have them settled to both of our liking."

Organa smirks.

"Or at least to the level where it's tolerable to both of us."

He nods. "You're not what I was expecting."

"I hear that a lot."

"I'd imagine you do."

It's dinner time, again, and this time Kylo's expecting to have supper with just Rey.

But expecting isn't getting, and just as they're sitting down, he feels Poe come close to his door, and Rey opens it before he can knock.

Poe just stares at where the door was, hand up about to knock, and then steps in. "That's unsettling."

"Didn't want you in the cold any longer than you needed to be."

"Thanks." He puts a plate of mixed veggies on the table, next to the rolls, and then takes his coat off.

"Getting comfy?" Kylo asks.

"Yes. Don't worry, I'm not planning on crashing all of your meals." He grabs a plate, and fork for himself, and then pours himself a cup of water.

"But you're crashing tonight."

"Yeah. I figure when you see why, you'll be okay with it." Then he pats the corner seat. "Tonight, you go here, okay, Ren?"

Kylo raises and eyebrow, but switches places with Rey, so he's sitting between Poe and Rey.

Once he's in place, Poe clears off a bit of space between them, and lays a small holo projector, the kind with just a tiny display, maybe ten centimeters on a side, in front of them.

"You'd just… well, killed the First Order, I guess. Or gave birth to the Order. Or however you saw it. And we'd met on the beach. Here actually. To talk about what was next. And I knew, going into it, I just knew. When she called the meeting her voice was… resigned. She'd been off with Chewie talking to people we owed money to, paying off old debts, and… I knew what was coming.

"And I wasn't wrong. She said her bit, and then left us to squabble in the sand around the fires, because most of who was there didn't want to give up. And for a while, I was mostly fighting with them, taking the position that Leia said we were done, so we were done, and that was that, but…

"Eventually, the arguing was getting more heated, and then Chewie just howled. He'd been away from the fight, on the edge of the beach, watching the water. And I realized I hadn't seen her in hours.

"I…" His eyes are bright. "I'd gone to the Falcon, because I'd seen her get on it, and… Uh… I found her clothing." Poe blinks. He's not crying. Not yet. His eyes are wet though. "It was so stupidly small. She was such a big personality, that… Anyway… they felt like doll clothing, you know?"

And for a moment, Kylo really wishes he could say yes, but… "The last time I saw her in person, she was still taller than I was."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Kylo bites his lip, hard. "My… uh… mental image of her… it didn't really update."

Poe sniffs a bit, and Rey holds both of their hands. "Anyway. Asking about the house in Chandrilla reminded me of this. Chewie and I… gathered up her stuff. He was her official next of kin. And, there was this. She kept it with her, and… He gave it to me. Said it hurt too much to look at, so I guess he knew what was on it, but…

"I didn't… look… until last night. Just kept it, because it was hers, but… Do you… want to see?"

Kylo's turn to blink. "Do I?"

"It's a party. I don't know the people in the background. I think Chewie's the one who took the picture, because I can hear the howling, and your Dad is talking to him."

Kylo nods. He's fairly sure what this has to be. "Yeah. Uh… Am I a little guy? Seven-years-old?"

"Can't tell by looking, but probably. You're bigger than Rugh and smaller than Opal."

Kylo closes his eyes slowly, and he can feel how much Rey wants to see this, but she doesn't want to push him, and…

He turns it on. Like any holovid the image is translucent, but it's the three of them, with people in the background Kylo doesn't know. The image is jerky, and it's fairly clear that Chewie just got handed the camera because once it stops moving, he's taking the picture from above them.

"Make sure you don't cut our heads off!" Han's saying.

You're the one who cuts people's heads off in pictures. Chewie replies as the camera nudges up just a tad. Got you!

Han's holding Ben, has his arms around him, and he's riding his Dad's hip. Leia's next to them, arms around them both. They're ready for the wedding, all dressed up. His mother's hair in the most elaborate braid he'd ever seen, before or since, and she's draped in a long, flowing rust and scarlet dress. Alderaanian colors of luck and joy. Both he and his dad are dressed up in tidy suits. Han's got a flower on his vest, and looks a bit rushed. Like he's got to get moving, fast.

"Hey, Lando! They gave us cameras and told us to record something for you," That's Leia.

Ben's voice. It's so high and tiny. "Happy Wedding Uncle Lando! We got to see the cake already and it's ENORMOUS! It's bigger than I AM! They say it's chocolate and coffee and vanilla and there's a strawberry tier and there's supposed to be a layer with lemon curd, and I LOVE lemon curd and…"

Leia's laughing. "And we're looking forward to sharing the dessert with you. Everyone's starting to go in now, and Han's got to head off and find you, so… All of our love, and best wishes today and the days to come!" She makes a little kissing gesture at the camera.

The picture goes flashing away, and they hear Chewie saying, Shit, we've got to move. He's going to skin us alive if we're late for this thing.

They get a somewhat blurred image of Han putting Ben down, and kissing Leia, running his fingers through Ben's hair, grinning at both of them, and then it goes dark.

Kylo's biting his lip, hard. After another moment of just looking at where the image used to be, he finds enough of his voice to say, "Is that the only image?"

Poe nods. "Yeah." He's not sure what to say, so he starts to eat, and watches as Kylo just stares at where the image was.

"That was the last happy time," Kylo eventually says. "Less than a year later, it'd gotten so bad they shipped me off to Luke."

Rey's stroking his back. "What's bad?"

Kylo swallows… "She was gone, a lot. This meeting, that meeting, this other meeting. The house was outside Chandrilla, and I don't know how long it took to get home, but a lot of nights she stayed in the city. He… he was with her. Or with Chewie. Or sometimes with me, but mostly away.

"And I was stuffed in a house with a cook, a nanny, and a tutor.

"And a malevolent spirit in the back of my head.

"And too much power.

"And no control.

"And Dad was coming home soon. They'd been telling me that for days, to try and keep me in a good mood. He was supposed to be home that afternoon, but… Something… happened. And he was going to be delayed. I don't know if I ever knew what the holdup was. But… I got into a fight with the tutor. My math was wrong. My math was always fucking wrong, and it was fucking wrong again, and… The voice was telling me math was for peons. Math was for clerks and dullards, and I had a bigger, better destiny, and he was trying to hold me back, shackle me to some sort of meaningless job as a bureaucrat, and I was so angry, and the voice kept telling me to let the anger go to, to use it, to show them all what I could be and do and… And then the tutor wasn't breathing, and he was turning blue, and he fell to the floor, and he wasn't moving, and I was screaming, and the nanny came and saw, and then she was screaming, and I was sure I'd killed him, so I ran away and hid, and… And he wasn't dead. I didn't know that for hours and hours because I hid so well they didn't find me for close to a full day.

"Dad found me. And he gave me some food, because I was so hungry and tired and angry and thirsty and… wrong… So fucking wrong. I could see it in the way he was looking at me. Like I was fragile and broken and evil and dark and just wrong.

"Like he was afraid to touch me.

"And he and mom had been arguing about sending me off to Luke. He didn't want to send me off. Didn't think all Force all the time, off in the middle of nowhere was the way to go. But… Mom had been saying I had too much power to go untrained and I had to learn control and…

"And he was back. I'd been having trouble with math for a long time, and we were going to work on it together. But we didn't. We never did. Mom got home a few hours later, and they packed up my stuff, and took me to Luke. And I never got to go home again." He touches the holovid. "And, I never saw, both of them, at the same time, after that. I was fifteen the last time she visited. Nineteen the last time he did.

"They'd write and call, but I'd duck out on the calls, or not read the letters." He touches the holovid projector again. Watching the images, blinking back the tears. "That's who we were supposed to be. Who we were never lived up to the image."

He bites his lip. "That's Ben Solo. Sad and hurt and… broken, wrong. Untouchable." He looks to Poe and Rey. "And I absolutely cannot go back there." He hands the holocube back to Poe as Rey gently strokes his back.

Notes:

Hey All,

So I know some of you were wondering where the Dynamic Duo went, and well, here they are. And they're the main actors for the next... oh seven or eight chapters, and then we'll have some fun with Jon and Poe and Co.

Meanwhile, thank you for the patience. We're about 160 pages into this now, and finally have our major players into position so that, in the next two chapters, we can start laying out where we're going to go with this installment.

(Woo hoo! With a side of, wait, you wrote 160 pages of set up? Just to get things into place? Loves, I really wasn't kidding about EPICS.)