CHAOS IS A LADDER
Even though the carriage was a bust, there's still much to celebrate. And plenty of business to take care of, some of which isn't so merry. -LS
...
Operating the holotable means using some of the precious fuel in their generator, but tonight nobody cares. The rebels break out their bottles of spirits, someone plays a jumpy tune on a string instrument, and smiles beam off everyone's faces, even the Jedi on the hologram.
Almost everyone. Dalla's happy act is shaky at best. She alternates between watching the merriment and working on the cup of ale in her hand.
Lux taps her shoulder. "Are you okay? You seem distant."
"Yeah," she nods and gestures to her cup. "Just been drinking."
Lux looks at her cup dubiously and then goes back to his own, which is probably the only reason he bought her excuse. The Blackwells generally aren't heavy drinkers, but the stuff in Dalla's cup is weaker than what she drank as a toddler on voyages. One cup isn't going to get her weepy-drunk. What will kill her mood, on the other hand, is tearing through the royal carriage searching hopelessly for Kason only to find gold bars and useless decorations.
Some have hit the ale harder, and the ale's hit them back. Dalla can only imagine how Lux, knocking back shots like nobody's business, is going to feel in the morning. Probably just as awful as she did the morning after her first celebration of a good catch, or how Miranda felt after her underage stunt in the Hold's pub with Dalla's ID. She just hopes Lux knows how to reign himself in.
Steela pours herself a drink, muscles Saw and Lux to the middle of the room, and raises her glass for a toast.
"We must celebrate," she announces, her words slurring together just a little. How much ale has this girl had?
"With pleasure," Saw agrees and grabs her around the waist. He swings his sister around in a circle under Lux's scrutinizing gaze.
"That's sweet," Dalla observes, a smile creeping onto her face for the first time since she opened the carriage. Uncle Jamos is fond of swinging her even though he sometimes complains she's too big, and little Lana loves to be tossed around.
"Oh, they're so cute," Hero agrees. "If I had a brother, I'd want one like Saw."
Once Steela's back on solid ground she levies a mischievous gaze at Lux and opens her arms. "Come here, you handsome Senator!"
Lux more than willingly obliges, wrapping his arms around her. When Dalla manages to take her attention off the situation unfolding before her eyes, she catches Saw's gaze. He's glaring at Lux and Steela like he wants nothing more than to punt Lux into the river.
"Saw doesn't look happy," she whispers.
Hero whistles. "You think that's bad? Check out Ahsoka."
Dalla does. Ahsoka looks like she's smelled something rancid, and she's not shy about hiding it either. Dalla grabs one of the liquor bottles. "Cut Lux and Steela off. We don't need this going any further than it already has."
"You've seen this before?" Hero asks with a raised eyebrow.
A ship's captain wears many hats. One is Keeper of the On-Board Booze. "Way too much for my liking and I'm not doing it again tonight."
"If it means preventing a Lux and Saw fight, I'm all for it," someone else says and tops off their own drink before stashing the bottles. "It's like tookas and anoobas when they go head to head."
"Doesn't look like one's about to break out right now, but I'm going to go stop it before it can." Dalla knocks back the rest of her ale and walks over to Lux, Saw, and Steela. "The return of the conquering heroes!"
Saw laughs. "We're something like that, I guess."
"Too bad the Jedi weren't here to see the looks on the people's faces tonight. You might have some new recruits in the morning."
"I'd say!" He grins. "Wish I could have seen Rash's reaction."
Steela takes another sip of what she doesn't know will be her last cup of ale. "Looks like you and Dono got back to base okay."
"We did." Sort of. We were supposed to bring someone else to base too. "Hutch helped you guys with the generator?"
Steela nods. "He must have spoofed an alarm to tempt a few patrols away. They were thinner than I'd have thought."
"Well, we got through them," Lux smiles. "The power generator's gone and the people are cheering in the streets."
General Kenobi's hologram steps forward. "This latest development will surely get Count Dooku's attention. He will respond harshly. They will stop at nothing to find you; you must adapt and continue to confront them in order to liberate Onderon."
"We will," Saw says.
"And we shall win," Steela promises.
It's a rousing thought, Dalla decides, but liquid confidence might have something to do with that answer. Today's events are going to get Rash's attention too, probably more than Dooku's. Dalla sends a worried look to Dono, who replies in kind. Not only did they destroy his power generator, but the two of them ambushed his stolen stash. He won't take that lightly.
"In that, I have no doubt," Kenobi says.
"Now you must rally the people," Skywalker breaks in and looks pointedly at Lux, then at Dalla. "You'll need their support."
"Two of the five Great Houses are represented in this room," Lux proclaims and draws himself up to his full height. "Lady Blackwell and I will use all the influence we have to bring other families to our side."
"It won't be easy," Dalla admits. "But we'll do it. You all have said we're both pretty good talkers."
Lux blushes and some of the rebels roar with laughter.
"I thought we were bannermen," Lux says with mock bitterness.
"Nothing we don't know already," Saw claps him on the back a little too hard.
"Status could help, but your ability to influence the people will be determined by your capacity to represent them," Skywalker continues. "Not only on the battlefield, but off it. Against your enemies, even within your own ranks. Your commitment will inspire others. Your conviction will lead to victory."
"After tonight's efforts, the people will be ready to follow you." Kenobi says. "You will need a leader for them to rally behind."
Saw crosses his arms over his chest and Steela, Lux, and Dalla share a knowing look. Saw's the unofficial leader already, and Obi-Wan practically minting him just gave his ego a major boost.
Maybe that won't be so bad, Dalla muses. If he's the leader, and he's happy, then he just might agree with what I have to say, if I say it. He seems like an okay person.
"May the force be with you all." Kenobi bows, and the hologram flickers out.
Silence falls over the room for a hot second.
"So," Dalla speaks up when it's clear nobody else will. "I guess Lux and I are going to be pressing our noses to the diplomacy grindstone."
"I don't even know where to start," Lux admits. "We'll have to decide what connections to use, or even what connections we have left."
"There might be a way to secure Bremon Kira through the lower houses. My aunt said he was married once, and he really loved his wife. Maybe if we approach her family -." Saw snorts and she glares at him. "It's not funny!"
"In context? With you saying it? Yeah, it is," he whispers to her and then speaks up so the rest of the group can hear. "Whether or not these two can get the old man on board, we need to build on our momentum and continue our attacks to keep them off balance."
"We have to assure the people first," Lux implores, making a sweeping gesture to indicate the thousands outside the safehouse. "If we keep disrupting their lives, we risk alienating them. We have to gain their trust."
Dalla smiles a tiny smile at him. Don't worry about becoming king, Lux. You sound like one already, looking after his people. Her smile falters. But Saw's right too. We have to be loved, but we also have to be feared. If we don't do that, then someone will try to trample us.
"I agree with both of you," Steela says. "We can balance both. We also need to recruit others to join us."
And she spins with a dancer's grace to face the rest of the rebels, turning her back to Saw and Lux and Dalla. "Onderon is ours!" she shouts. "We will remind everyone, and keep reminding them, until we get it back!"
She thrusts her fist into the air as the room erupts into cheers.
"Freedom!"
"For Onderon!"
Dalla whistles and applauds. "Has anyone told her she could be a Lady?"
"I have," Lux winks.
The cheers die down when Dono stands on top of the crate she's been using as a chair.
"All in favor of Steela as our leader, raise your hand!"
Steela freezes. Saw freezes. Everyone else's hands go up as if pulled by magnetic force.
Dalla keeps hers down and she would elbow Lux to do the same if he wasn't shoving his in his pockets already. Saw looks around the room at the voters and his face flashes shock, disappointment, and finally betrayal.
"Okay," he says, every word an effort to tramp down his emotions. "Looks like it's been decided. You're the leader."
He gives his sister's shoulder a gentle squeeze, then throws back the rest of his drink and storms out of the room.
"Saw," Steela begins and starts to go after him.
Lux gently grabs her wrist. "Let him go. He just needs to blow off steam. He'll be back."
Steela sighs and slides his hand off hers. "I can't."
Dalla gets it. "Do you want backup?"
Steela shakes her head and rushes out of the room, only to be stopped at the door by Ahsoka.
"Why not?"
"He's my brother."
When she rounds the corner Ahsoka and Lux stare at the empty hallway, dumbfounded.
Hero breaks the silence. "Well it looks like we won't have to cut Steela off after all."
Dalla touches Lux's upper arm to get his attention. "Lux, we do need to talk about the other houses. Briefing room?"
Ahsoka turns around and Dalla pulls her hand back as fast as she can. She really hopes Ahsoka didn't take that the wrong way.
Thankfully Lux treats it as the professional invitation it is. "Briefing room sounds like the best option," he says and leads the way out.
Dalla feels Ahsoka's eyes boring into the back of her head the entire walk to the briefing room.
It's not me you have to worry about, she thinks bitterly. She and Lux are bannermen definitely, friends maybe, but certainly nothing more. From the look on Steela's face whenever she lays eyes on him, or vice versa, it's clear where Lux's heart lies. If Ahsoka gives her any grief, Dalla decides, she's going to tell it to her in plain Basic and hope she doesn't get lightsaber-fried for it. That's probably going to be harder than it sounds.
Lux shuts the door of the briefing room behind them and boots up the holotable.
"Treating with Bremon Kira directly is impossible," he says, bringing up a map of the planet. "Unless we have some kind of leverage with them, getting the other clans on our side without his support will be next to impossible."
"My aunt is a Rupingwood, but I think she's the only one left."
"I don't see any Rupingwood in the Beast Rider clans, so I think you're right."
"Your family has alliances with other houses, right?" She crosses her fingers behind her back.
Lux looks back down at the map. "Not exactly. My mother mainly made alliances with other senators, in the galactic theater. On the planetary level, we only have banners with House Dendup, mainly because he's our kin, and with your family."
"We don't have any oaths in the south except with you," she glares at the holotable. "Great. If Kira stays out of this the Beast Riders will too. Rash had to know this when he took the throne!"
"More like his mother did," Lux scoffs.
"I've heard about her. Never been happier that someone's dead." If Lady Rash was still alive, Dalla doesn't want to think of where she would be now. Probably wearing red in the royal palace. "Nevermind. Third time's the charm, right? If Steela and Saw go together, they might be able to get him to join now that he sees what we're made of. And if we're going to do that, we need them to be able to work together."
"How are we to do that? Saw isn't one to forget a blow to his ego quickly, especially if Steela's around."
"Think you can speed up his amnesia if I get Steela out of the base for the morning?"
"Yes, but she won't want to go."
"I'll come up with something," Dalla shrugs and then it hits her. "Lux? How are we doing on groceries?"
…
Thank you to everyone for reading and especially Starwarshobbitfics for the review. I'm also pleased to announce we have a new topic in the forum: the Beast Master's Guidebook, a reference on the many creatures of Onderon. Feel free to check it out!