Chapter 24
Sitting down by the hologram table in the main hold, Leia entered a code into her portable holocomm device. Pausing before she submitted the code, she looked up at Han who was leaning against the doorway leading to the cockpit.
"How do I look?" she asked, suddenly self-conscious about her unkempt hair and dirty robes.
"Beautiful as always," Han replied with a suave grin.
Leia rolled her eyes. "Suck up," she muttered, making a half-hearted effort to flatten her rampant bedhead.
"I'll be in the cockpit if you need anything," Han said. "Good luck."
"Thanks," Leia said. Giving her a nod, Han turned around and left for the cockpit. Taking one last deep breath, Leia forced herself to stop fidgeting with her hair and submitted the code. Leia waited for a few tense moments before an unfamiliar female figure formulated in front of her.
"With whom am I speaking?" the stranger asked in a sharp voice.
"I'm sorry, I meant to speak with Senator Mothma. Do I have the wrong code?"
The woman gave Leia a suspicious look. "I am Interim Chancellor Mothma's personal secretary," she replied flatly.
"Interim Chancellor…? Oh! I see. So sorry, I hadn't heard…"
"The Chancellor is very busy at the moment," the secretary said stiffly. "If you have nothing of substance to say, I will ask you to call back later."
"No! I need to talk to Senator – I mean Chancellor Mothma right now. This is urgent!"
But the secretary wasn't listening as she had swiveled her head around to look at something behind her. "Who is that?" Leia heard a muffled voice ask. Suddenly, the distinct figure of Mon Mothma materialized behind the secretary.
"I'm not sure, Madame Chancellor," she replied.
Close enough to make out the hologram, Mothma halted and stared back at Leia. "Leia?" she said. "You look… different."
Embarrassed, Leia made another attempt to flatten her hair.
"Retransmit this to my office," Mothma ordered and turned around. Before Leia could say anything, the hologram disappeared. After a few moments, Mothma's figure reappeared, this time seated in front of a desk.
"Princess Leia, it's an honor to speak to you again so soon," Mothma said candidly. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Sitting up as straight as she could, Leia adopted her most diplomatic posture. "Chancellor Mothma–" she began, but was interrupted.
"Interim Chancellor," Mothma said with a twinkle in her eye as if she was used to correcting people.
Faltering, Leia paused to recollect herself. She had prepared a longwinded explanation, but now in her panic she realized she had forgotten it. Deciding to dispel with the pleasantries, Leia got right to the point. "I'm currently on Naboo where Luke has been taken prisoner by Queen Soruna," she said quickly.
"Oh dear," Mothma said with genuine concern. "Whatever made Soruna do that?"
"Luke went to her to ask for her assistance in founding a new Jedi temple on Naboo. But she interpreted him as a threat and imprisoned him instead," Leia explained.
"A threat? What made her think that?" asked Mothma.
Leia hesitated for a moment before seemingly changing the subject. "Were you acquainted with Senator Amidala during her tenure in the senate?" she asked.
Mothma raised an eyebrow. "I was," she answered slowly. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Leia smiled weakly in spite of herself. "Senator Amidala was our mother."
Mothma's eyes widened in shock, her mouth held slightly agape as she stared back at Leia's hologram. Leaning back in her chair, she blinked a few times as she absorbed the information.
"So you can see why Soruna would interpret Luke as a threat?" Leia asked the bewildered stateswoman.
Mothma made no indication that she had heard Leia's question. Instead she leaned forward and looked at Leia with her eyes narrowed, scrutinizing Leia's face intensely.
"Chancellor?" Leia asked, slightly unnerved by Mothma's reaction.
Mothma leaned back once more, straightening her back and reassuming her stiff diplomatic posture. "Interim Chancellor," she corrected again. "Forgive me Leia, this news comes as a bit of a shock to me."
"It came as a shock to me as well," Leia said. "I only just learned about this a few weeks ago."
Mothma said nothing for a few moments as she continued to stare back at Leia, perhaps noticing similarities she had never noticed before between the young princess and her late friend and ally Senator Amidala. "What can I do to help?" she asked suddenly with a firm resolve to her voice.
Caught off guard by Mothma's intense willingness to help, Leia was silent for a few seconds; she had expected this was going to be more difficult. "Oh, well I was hoping that, er… well I wanted the New Republic to demand that Soruna release Luke."
Mothma grimaced slightly. "You do realize I don't have that authority?" she said. "At least not yet."
"Yes, yes I figured that would be the case," Leia said quickly. "My idea was that you would send a delegation to Theed to request Luke's release."
"And you planned to lead this delegation, I presume?"
"Er… yes, that was the idea."
Mothma stroked her chin pensively and looked back at Leia with an unreadable expression for a few moments. "It could work," she concluded. "But Soruna is not the type to bend easily to external pressures. She may have sided with the Rebellion, but she is a very independent ruler."
"I understand that, but it's worth an attempt," Leia said. Unbeknownst to Mothma, Leia had no intention of letting Soruna dismiss her delegation easily; if it came to it, she was more than willing to using more aggressive negotiation tactics, perhaps involving blasters and a certain blue lightsaber.
"Indeed, it is," Mothma agreed.
Leia's heart soared. This had gone much better than she had anticipated. "Thank you so much!" she exclaimed enthusiastically.
"I will allow you to lead this delegation, but only on one condition," Mothma said, wiping the smile off Leia's face.
"Of course, anything you ask," Leia said hurriedly, fearing that she had seemed ungrateful.
Mothma gave her a wry smile. "Good," she said. "Here is what I want of you."
Han was fiddling absentmindedly with one of the many switches on the control panel in the cockpit of the Falcon when Leia walked in. Stretching his neck to look at her without moving from his chair, Han noticed that she looked particularly grim – her brow was furrowed and her forehead creased with concern.
"What's wrong?" Han asked, getting to his feet.
Leia didn't look at him right away, her arms crossed in front of her. "Huh? Oh, I'm fine, totally fine," she said unconvincingly.
"Leia…"
"I'm fine!" she said shrilly. Han gave her a concerned look,
"I'm more than fine, actually," she said with a weak smile. "Mothma agreed to help us."
"She did?" Han said. "Then why are you…"
"Totally fine!" Leia interrupted quickly.
Han raised his hands in surrender and backed off.
"The Republic is going to help us get Luke back," she said earnestly.
"Oh yeah?" Han said, sitting back down in the captain's chair. "How, exactly?"
"Mothma's going to let me lead a delegation to request Luke's release."
"Delegation? What does that mean?" Han asked.
Leia smiled mischievously. "What it's supposed to mean is that the Republic sends an ambassador accompanied by a procession of lesser diplomats and bureaucrats. But Mothma's not sending diplomats."
"What do you mean?" Han asked.
"Given Soruna's…belligerence, Mothma felt it necessary to send a squadron of infantry to accompany me."
"Infantry?" Han exclaimed, sitting up in his chair. "Are you sure this is a good idea? How will the Queen react to that?"
Leia shrugged nonchalantly. "She won't have much of a choice. They will be there on the orders of the Chancellor. To disobey the Chancellor's wishes is to sacrifice Naboo's place in the New Republic."
Han frowned. He had never been one to understand the intricacies of politics. From his point of view, Soruna wasn't going to allow several dozen armed troops into her Palace no matter what the Chancellor had to say about it. "I don't know, Leia. Don't you think this is a bit too aggressive?"
Leia's eyes flashed with indignation. "Aggressive?" she said haughtily. "She was the one who started this when she arrested Luke arbitrarily."
"I know that, but…"
"I'm doing the right thing!" she insisted forcefully. "I need your support, Han."
"Of course I support you," Han said with uncharacteristic calm. "I just think you're acting a bit rash, that's all."
Leia took a deep breath, forcing herself not to lash out at Han who she knew was only trying to help. "You know I value your input, Han," she said. "But you don't understand politics like I do. Soruna will respond to power, nothing else."
"You mean you're not even going to try to negotiate with her?" he asked in surprise.
"I didn't say that. Of course I will try, but when that inevitably fails I'd like to have some muscle backing me up."
Han said nothing, the concern evident on his face.
"Look," Leia said softly, taking a step towards him. "I know you're concerned. But would you not do the same if you were in my position?"
Han looked away, ignoring Leia's question. "I'm going with you," he said definitively after a brief silence.
"What? No, Han…"
"I will not let you go in there by yourself."
"I won't be alone…"
"I'm not going to lose you," he said passionately, standing up abruptly so that he was just inches away from Leia. "I've only just got you back," he added softly.
Surprised yet also pleased by his fierce ardor, Leia acquiesced. "Fine," she said, looking up at Han's determined face. "You can come."
Han grinned. "Good," he said, putting his hands on Leia's shoulders. "We're going to get him back, okay? We'll do whatever it takes."
"Speaking of which," she said. "I'd very much like to have my lightsaber back."
Han raised his eyebrows. "I don't see how that connects to what I said at all," he teased.
"Han," Leia said sternly. "I need my lightsaber."
Rolling his eyes, Han took his hands off of Leia's shoulders. "Alright, alright. I'll go get it for you."
"Good," she said, relieved that Han was trusting her again. "Because I have a feeling I'm going to need it."