Chapter 6

Selnesh.

Why Selnesh? Why?

If there was someplace closer to one of the nine Corellian hells he had not seen it yet.

The planet was barren, dry and scantily populated. Most of the activity was centered around the two spaceports, the military one near the new prison complex being built and the civil one, closer to the factories that produced some of the goods the prison would need in the future. Beyond that, there were only a few settlements of farmers and miners barely scraping a living from the poor land.

How the blazes did I get stuck in this hellhole? Han Solo asked himself, not for the first time, tossing and turning around in his bunk. At least his present rank had granted him a private room where he could enjoy some solitude, even if that was about to change any time if Mrs. Klemdocc kept with her attempts at seducing him. Which would be perfectly fine by him if it were not for little details like Colonel Klemdocc being his highly irascible commanding officer. He doubted the lady was worth the risk, even if she carried very well her years.

So here he was, the youngest one to ever have received a Corellian Bloodstripe decoration, mostly grounded and buried alive in a prison planet. He wondered if he would have taken the same decision had he known in advance that it would throw his career down the garbage chute. That was something he would never know.

What was clear was that those men would have died if he had not given the order of abandoning the ship when the life support system went down. It was not his fault that the officers with higher rank than him were too busy getting to their escape pods instead of helping him secure the ship in a stable orbit. The First Blood had been a beautiful vessel. It was a shame she had been lost on her maiden flight right outside the Corellian shipyard just because she had been launched without emergency pressure suits for the four hundred crewmen.

His eyes sled to the broken datapad on the floor and the new scratch on the far wall.

Damned Bria, why had she to be such an idealist? Now he would worry to death every time he heard about a new Rebel cell busted here or there. And if she really thought that a divorce would protect him in any way, that only showed how utterly hopeless those self-proclaimed freedom fighters were.

"Slick, you there?" A voice called from outside, followed by an energetic knocking on his door. "You're missing the special!"

"Alright, I'm coming!" He yelled back, kicking away the knot of rough sheets with finality.

A few minutes later, wearing sweatpants and shirt, he dragged himself to the officer's lounge. All his off-duty colleagues were all ready there, drinking ale and eating snacks – it was Empire Day after all, a little relaxing was allowed.

"Are we on yet?"

"No, not yet," Lieutenant Dretch answered with a smirk. "They're showing the hand-kissing and breast-peeking first."

Han laughed briefly and accepted a chilled ale bottle from the young pilot, sitting on one of the couches farther from the viewer.

The big holo-viewer was running the mandatory Anniversary Special. It was currently showing the highlights of the annual procession of dignitaries and courtiers to greet their great leader, Emperor Palpatine. Several cameras followed them from the moment they arrived to the Palace to the second in which they finally reached the throne room, climbed the steps that lead to the richly decorated dais and bowed in front of his Cloaked Majesty himself. The commentators meanwhile analyzed all the details from the extravagant gowns of the ladies to the latest gossip about who was rising in and who was falling from the Emperor's good graces.

"Look at that, Golden Boy himself decided to join us mere mortals!" A thick voice with a heavy middle-rim accent mocked him.

Shavit. By the clouded look on his bloodshot eyes, Colonel Klemdocc had all ready had more than a couple of ales. A couple of couples, probably.

Solo decided to ignore his bait, tipped his ale bottle up and swallowed almost half of it before swiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Fortunately, by then Tipsy Klem – as the pilots called him, though obviously not to his face – had been distracted by the impressive cleavage of the lady that was currently curtsying before the Head of the Empire.

"I bet that's why he makes them stay two steps below him, to get a good peek," the Colonel joked drunkenly. "Which one will he choose this year?"

The men in the room voiced their opinion, each name followed by heated debate about their attributes and faults. "Oh, I know who!" Someone shouted at last. "Look at that! I bet our Fearless Leader likes fresh untouched meat..."

Obscene laughter roared across the room, almost drowning the voice of the commentator. "And now we see approaching the dais Viceroy Bail Organa of Alderaan and his daughter, newly elected Senator Princess Leia of Alderaan. Princess Organa will replace the current Senator tomorrow, in a separate ceremony along with other new Senators from the planets..."

"Hey, seems that Golden Boy likes fresh meat too!" Klemdocc drawled, catching Han with his eyes glued to the viewer. "Tsk, tsk, Goldie, what would your gorgeous, lonely wife say?"

Solo ground his teeth and sneered, getting on his feet. "She'll probably ask her to join us, Sir..." And with that, he sauntered out of the room.

"Corellians!" The Colonel spat after him.

Gah! Why did he allow stupid Klem to get to him?

A chill run down his spine at the thought that he may had intercepted Bria's last message. Still, she had been really careful in what she said there and the current communication's officer – one of Klemdocc's buddies - was not smart enough to get his personal system sliced.

The man was a loser like everybody else assigned to this poor excuse of a planet. The place was meant to be a punishment not only for the future inmates that would soon inhabit the prison complex, but also for the slaves building it and the garrison guarding them.

His steps guided him automatically to his only let out as for late.

Han Solo took out the swoop out of the storage locker and checked his security marks to make sure nobody had been tampering with her since he took her out last. Satisfied with the inspection, he let his fingers run over her smooth crimson surface.

"Hey, beautiful," he whispered, "wanna go for a ride?"

As he accelerated through the empty plains his thoughts went to the previous owner of the racing swoop. The thought of that disgusting being called the Emperor getting his hands on that lively girl he had met a few months before on Alderaan added to his bitterness and he pressed the bike in tights turns until it screeched in the wind.

He had not recognized her until he heard the name; she was almost buried under layers and layers of heavy fabric and cosmetics. She did not even look like herself, but after all he had only seen her twice. With fondness, he remembered the note that had accompanied the arrival of the swoop.

My father found out about our 'bath' in Lake Reeja. He sends his deep thanks for fishing me out and says he owes you one. Incidentally, he ordered me to get away from that swoop – permanently. So I thought to give it away to someone who would really appreciate it instead of letting the nerfherder have it. Mrs. Solo said you were a racer for a while. Enjoy it! Leia

I hope you're alright, kid, he thought as he speeded by the military spaceport. Damnit, a new slaver ship had arrived and they were just unloading their living cargo.

Wookiees. Why did it have to be Wookiees?

Bail Organa knocked softly on his daughter's door.

"Leia? Are you awake?" He asked softly. A minute later Winter, freed at last from her costume, wig and heavy make up, opened the door and let him in.

The room was darkened but for a small reading lamp by the bed and the ever changing colors of a silenced holo-viewer.

"She's asleep," his ward informed him.

"No, I'm not," the Princess whispered hoarsely, emerging from the mess of silken bedclothes and propping herself up with some difficulty against the carved headboard.

"Then you should be," Bail admonished affectionately. "You need to get your strength back for tomorrow."

"I'll be all right, I promise... All I need is a good night's sleep."

An hour before the programmed departure time from the Alderaanian Embassy towards the Imperial Palace for the Greeting Ceremony (or Creeping Ceremony as Leia privately referred to it) the Princess had been attacked by violent vomiting. By the time their staff medic arrived, made a diagnose and gave her something to alleviate the symptoms, she was not even able to stand on her feet. They were forced to ask Winter to take her place, knowing how little tolerance the Emperor had for the most seemingly trivial violations of courtly protocol.

The Alderaanian Viceroy sat on the bed and caressed his daughter's forehead, wiping away a few strands that had escaped her messed up braids. "I'm sure you will," he smiled. "The medic said it was only a random virus, it's not uncommon when you arrive to a planet so crowded. When your mother and I went to Kuat for our wedding tour..."

"I know the story," Leia giggled, interrupting him. "I just wanted to see how you two looked on the holo..." A deep yawn interrupted her mid-sentence.

"Winter did an outstanding job," he smiled. With her holographic memory and her physical resemblance to Leia, Winter had become the perfect decoy for her. The two girls – Women, the Viceroy corrected himself, women - together were a formidable team, specially because not many people knew about his ward's exceptional abilities and most people thought that the Princess had gotten the office just because of him. Memory supplemented with intuition, recklessness balanced with discretion and two brilliant, compassionate minds behind bright eyes, they would be soon a force to behold.

And he was about to abandon them in the krayt dragon's lair itself.

Extending his hand, he invited Winter to join them on the bed. "I'm so proud of you," he whispered, embracing the two friends. "Rest well, my little raanies. Tomorrow will be a great day."

When Bail left the room, Leia asked Winter to turn the holo-viewer off, knowing that sleeping was really the best for her. She turned in the bed surprised when she heard the volume rise instead.

"Look who's there," Winter called to her attention with a wink. "Your friend from Lake Reeja..."

"...Will be a model correctional facility. The magnanimity and wisdom of our Emperor has destined only the best personnel to take care of the future inmates..." The commentator of the documentary recited. All day that channel had been telling and retelling the past, present and future achievements of Palpatine's administration.

"He doesn't look all right..." Leia muttered, her eyes glued to the holo-viewer as the images showed the brand new installation and the garrison demonstrating it capabilities.

"He's lost weight," her friend confirmed. "Have you heard anything about his wife?"

The Princess shook her head. "Nothing since she went undercover. But I guess that's a good thing, really. It's a shame they aren't together, they're a nice couple, even if he..." She didn't finish the thought. Early on she had learnt that things were not always black and white in the long ongoing struggle against tyranny. Nice people sometimes did wrong things for good reasons and even more often despicable people did good things for their own benefit.

"It is. Now go to sleep, tomorrow is your big day." Winter grasped Leia's hand and her clear eyes fixed in hers. "Tomorrow everything starts to change, as you always wanted."

"We'll do that together,"the young Senator answered with a smile, squeezing her aide and best friend's hand back.