Dawn

Theed, Capitol of Naboo

8 Hours after the Invasion (or Liberation, depending on one's political persuasion) of Naboo

Pooja Naberrie hunched deeply into the seat of the enclosed hovercar that was carrying her swiftly through the streets of Theed.

The more than 2 days since her cousins had left on their mission to kill Palpatine had been fraught with anxiety, and she continued to be thankful for the reassuring presence of the Wookie Chewbacca.

An hour ago, Chewbacca had woken her up from a fitful sleep and indicated it was time to leave. She hadn't miraculously become fluent in Shyriiwook so she didn't know where they were going, but she trusted him and rolled out of her seedy bed and wrapped herself in a cloak. A hovercar had pulled up in front of the ramshackle building where they had been hiding.

They had moved swiftly to the hovercar, which was droid controlled, and were carried rapidly down deserted streets. Above, in the sky, she could barely make out the glinting lights of Starfighters in battle, but with no sound and limited view, it was impossible to evaluate what was going on in the skies and space above Naboo.

As the sun broke the horizon, Pooja watched wearily as they traveled through dingy slums to lower middle class housing into the streets of the nouveau rich, until finally the car slowed and turned into the most exclusive area in Theed. Pooja sat up in surprise and trepidation. Was this right? She glanced at Chewbacca, who was grumbling softly to himself. She smiled slightly in spite of her anxiety; the car was barely big enough to fit the Wookie's large frame, so every square centimeter seemed to be filled with Wookie limbs and hair.

After a few minutes, the car glided to a stop and the window opened automatically. Two guards stood beside large gates which were the only entrance into a fenced in estate. Through sturdy bars, Pooja observed a palatial building set far back from the road, surrounded with mature trees and tasteful gardens.

One of the guards stepped forward to peer into the hovercar. He opened his mouth, then caught sight of the Wookie.

"Welcome, Representative Naberrie," he said, and signaled to someone. The gate opened, and the car turned and entered the grounds. Pooja looked around in amazement. While House Naberrie was old and respected, it had never had a home in Theed like this one. Where were they?

At the front of the house, an elderly man stood tall and regal in the early dawn light. Pooja gasped in surprise when she caught sight of his face. Elder Quintiz!

The door opened, and the Elder moved forward and spoke softly, "Please, both of you enter the house quickly and with your hoods over your heads. We'd prefer for you to keep a low profile.

Pooja obeyed, and soon found herself in a charming antechamber. The room was welcoming, with cushioned benches lining the sides of the room, and a variety of classic Nabooian art hanging elegantly on the walls. Pooja noticed all this in a flash, for her eyes quickly found the woman standing at the end of the room.

"Mother!" she gasped with delight, and moved forward with a relieved embrace.

"Mother, is everyone all right?" she demanded.

"One moment, my dear," Sola responded very calmly, with a slightly reproving gaze. Pooja felt instantly calmer. Yes, she was 31 years old, but when her mother used that tone she felt like she was five years old again, when her greatest fear was that she would miss out on some promised treat due to disobedience.

"Elder Quintiz, I thank you again for your exceedingly generous decision to harbor us," Sola stated.

"Sola Naberrie, it is my honor," the Elder replied. With a slight bow, he walked into an open door to his right.

Sola smiled, and drew Pooja through a doorway on the other side of the corridor. She gestured to Chewbacca to follow as well, which he did. Once they were through the door, Sola pushed a button and the door slid shut, leaving them in a corridor which stretched north, with multiple doors on each side.

"You must be Chewbacca," her mother said, "I am most grateful to you for watching over my daughter. I owe you a great debt as well."

Chewbacca growled in a pleased way, and seemed surprised but pleased when Sola gave him a quick hug. Her mother was taller than most Naberrie women, but she was completely dwarfed by the gigantic Wookie.

One of Pooja's distant relations appeared at the door, and offered to escort Chewbacca to a dining room for a meal, a proposition which Chewbacca accepted gratefully. Once they were out of the corridor, Pooja turned eagerly to her mother.

"Mother, what about…"

"Pooja, be at peace. I know this has been a frightening time for you, but there is no need to panic. None of our family members have been captured by the Governor and his minions. Indeed, almost everyone is accounted for, including all the cousins."

This was said with a significant arch of the eyebrow, and Pooja was not surprised when her sister Ryoo suddenly stepped close. Their mother had seen her sister coming, and had obviously decided to conceal the identities of the cousins Pooja was most concerned about. Pooja suppressed a sigh of relief. She had been so worried about Luke and Leia!

Ryoo and Pooja exchanged quick embraces. Their relationship was cordial but not especially close, as their lives rarely intersected anymore due to widely diverging careers and interests. Pooja knew too that Ryoo, though she had a good heart, had a loose tongue. Obviously, Sola had decided that Ryoo should not be part of the family secret yet. Pooja hoped the time would come soon to reveal the existence of the Skywalker cousins. Ryoo was a warm hearted creature who would enthusiastically welcome them into the Naberrie family.

"Is this the city seat of House Quintiz?" Pooja asked.

Sola nodded and said, "When Palpatine slandered my late sister Padme on the public Holonet, he struck at the very heart of Nabooian House culture. Your aunt was known and revered by many, including Elder Quintiz. He immediately mobilized his family and servants to rush all of us of House Naberrie into safe quarters. We have reason to be very grateful to him, but he knew and loved your aunt and has said that this is the least he can do in her memory. Now come, my dear, you need food and a shower, maybe not in that order."

Pooja agreed. She felt quite grimy after a couple of days in that rundown apartment. She was not surprised when Sola guided her to a room with a guard outside. With a nod from Sola, the guard opened the door and she passed through into a medium sized room.

It was furnished elegantly and comfortably with tan walls and dark green chairs, one of which held her cousin Leia Organa. On a chair next to her, with long legs outstretched, was Han Solo. A hallway led out of the other end of the room, and a closed door was in the middle of the adjacent wall. The outer wall contained a large window showed the glories of a clear Nabooian dawn. The gardens were magnificent. Even in these trying times, House Quintiz was exceedingly wealthy, partly because the previous Imperial governor had married into House Quintiz, which had resulted in long term protection even as Vader had protected Varykino.

Leia had a headset on and was talking to someone, but she leaped up and gave Pooja a side hug even as she kept speaking.

"Yes, I understand. The connection is secure so I don't think there will be a problem if I need to negotiate with him from here. I don't know, just a minute, please. I might be able to find out."

She hit a mute button and looked at Pooja, "Pooja, what is Governor Britzen like? Can you give us any insight?"

Pooja pulled her thoughts together, "He's a thug, Leia. He goes for brute force over subtlety. He's been heavy handed with the Queen and the Court and has been known to mete out harsh punishments for even a hint of dissension over Imperial demands. He also aims for more power than he currently has. He's treacherous. There isn't a noble bone in that man's body."

Leia shook her head, then unmuted the button and reported Pooja's words to the individual at the other end.

"Ok, we'll be in touch."

She removed the headset and smiled at Pooja.

"Oh Pooja, I'm so glad you are well. When the Governor sent out arrest warrants for your family, I was worried you might be picked up in the dragnet. It looks like Chewie took good care of you."

"Indeed he did," Pooja said with a grateful smile, "For all that I didn't understand a growl or a murmur, we managed to communicate quite well. I had trouble sleeping because I was worried about you, but with him standing guard I wasn't worried about me."

"Where is Chewie?" Solo asked.

When told, he stood and left, apparently needing to touch base with his co-pilot.

Leia gestured with her hand, and Pooja sank down into the chair next to her.

"Do you want to shower and change and eat some food now? There are bedrooms down that hallway, a small kitchen, and a refresher."

Pooja ignored this, "Leia, Mother said that Luke is all right. Where is he? Is he Ok? How is he doing about…you know… Vader…?"

A shadow crossed Leia's face, filling Pooja with dread. Apparently sensing this, Leia hastily said, "He's fine, Pooja, just fine. He's sleeping in the master bedroom right now. He's completely exhausted so we're letting him rest."

She gestured at the closed door.

"We're very grateful to Elder Quintiz. Your mother felt obligated to tell him which fugitives he was harboring, but as soon as he knew our relation to Padme Amidala, he welcomed us with open arms."

"Leia, what happened? Those explosions completely terrified me. Who set them off?"

Leia put a gentle hand on her cousin's arm, "We did, Pooja."

"What?"

Her cousin sighed, "Let me explain. I know we hid the plan from you but we needed to, Pooja. If…if you had been captured, it was vital that you not be able to betray us. I'm sorry."

Leia looked out of the window, and a shaft of sunlight bathed her face in a glow that lightened up the pallor of her cheeks. Pooja was suddenly aware that Leia was absolutely exhausted as well. What had happened in the last two days?

"Lord Vader was absolutely determined to kill Palpatine, Pooja. He was certain that Luke and I would never be safe so long as Darth Sidious lived. Our relationship was so strained that we never were able to talk freely about the past, but Luke has told me about what Palpatine did, how he drew our father in by pretending to be a trusted friend, how he manipulated our father by pretending to care about Mother, by promising Father could save Mother. And after Mother died and he thought the child had died as well, there was nothing left for him but to devote himself to the Empire."

Pooja was startled. This sounded like an excuse. Leia quickly went on.

"I'm not excusing him, Pooja. You know more than most how much I personally suffered at his hands. I'm just saying that I can just barely understand some of his reasons for doing what he did. Anyway, he felt like the biggest act of atonement he could give to the galaxy would be to kill the Emperor."

"I can't argue with that," Pooja replied.

"Oh, definitely," Leia agreed, "The problem was that when Vader and Luke were working together on… well, I shouldn't tell you where…anyway, they were doing some work on his suit, preparing for the battle against Palpatine. And they discovered, not surprisingly, that Palpatine had put a failsafe into Vader's leg prosthetics. If Vader attacked the Emperor, Palpatine could make him fall down. His legs would stop working. Darth Vader is an amazing warrior, but he couldn't possibly beat Emperor Palpatine without working legs."

"And he couldn't fix them?"

"Maybe, with time. With a lot of time. With more resources than he had. We decided, with Vader's – with my father's – full consent to leave the failsafes in there and try to draw Palpatine out since Sidious would think that he would have the upper hand in the confrontation. And obviously we succeeded in manipulating the situation to that end."

"So Vader knew that he was going to lose the battle against Palpatine?"

"He knew, Pooja, yes. He knew that at some point, the Emperor would hit the fail safe and he would collapse. He knew the Emperor would bombard him with Force Lightening, which would electrocute him from the inside out. Luke has a strong bond with him and he sensed…he sensed our father in great pain. He was very courageous to go up against the Emperor knowing what was facing him. More than anyone else in the galaxy, he truly understood what Palpatine was capable of, how powerful he was. And he knew that the Emperor would be enraged at his defection and would make him suffer."

Leia stood up now and walked to the window, looking out at the gardens. She turned after a moment, and tears glistened in her eyes.

"I'm willing to admit I was wrong about him. He was willing to sacrifice himself because he loved us."

"So what were you and Luke doing?" Pooja asked in a bewildered tone.

"Father used the schematics and maps to get into the Throne Room. We had mapped out another route, a thoroughly dirty one, I might add, to get into a large crawl space right below the Throne Room. It's a good thing Luke and I aren't big! It was built to allow access to various electronic and security systems for the Throne Room. While Vader was engaging the guards and Palpatine, Luke made holes with his lightsaber in the pillars that were accessible from the crawl space. He inserted explosives into the pillars. My job was to shield for Luke. I know this is obscure, but Force users can usually sense other Force users nearby. It was critical that Palpatine not sense Luke, or he would have altered his plan against our father. I don't know much about using the Force, but I'm apparently really good at shielding.

"Eventually, Vader was able to lure the Emperor into the perfect spot in the Throne Room and told Luke telepathically to set off the explosives. When the explosives went off, the pillars came down and Palpatine was buried. And Father was as well."

Pooja stood up and walked over to her cousin.

"I'm sorry, Leia. It sounds traumatic."

Leia turned around and looked at her gravely.

"It was, and Palpatine wasn't dead."

"How could have survived the ceiling caving in on him? And how did you know?"

"He is a powerful Sith Lord, Pooja. He was able to hold up the rubble. But Luke was able to sense both that he was alive, and also where he was. He brought his lightsaber up and cut through the floor and sliced him in half. And that was the end of him."

Pooja felt a deep sigh leave her. She realized that until this moment, she had been terrified it was all a big Imperial trick, that Palpatine was actually alive and waiting to reappear and wreak additional havoc on the galaxy. She knew she could trust Leia.

She asked anyway.

"You are absolutely, completely sure, Leia? Absolutely?"

"Pooja Naberrie, Emperor Palpatine is dead. I promise you. My brother killed him and even I felt his life snuff out. He is gone."

"And your father…I assume there was no way to get him out. Did you…you said your brother sensed him in great pain. That must have been agonizing. Did Luke feel him…die?"

"No."

There was a strange look on Leia's face.

Her cousin looked at her in horror.

"I don't understand, Leia. You…you mean you left him there alive? To expire in the rubble?"

Leia took a deep breath and sighed.

"No, Pooja, of course not. Luke would never have done that. And I guess I wouldn't either, if it had been my decision. No, Pooja, we dug him out, with a great deal of difficulty. And then after we had left the area, we set off another explosion to cover our tracks."

Pooja bowed her head. Poor Uncle Ani. At least the cousins would have their father's body to bury with honors. For all his sins, Padme's husband had died nobly and bravely.

"Where is his body now, Leia?"

"In the master bedroom next door, but we didn't haul a corpse in here. Our father is still alive."