Mon Mothma's Private Ship

Halfway between Hoth and Bespin

Not in Hyperspace

The Next Day

"Hi, Mon!"

Mon Mothma stared into the viewscreen at her old, beloved friend, Padme Amidala Naberrie Skywalker, who was nibbling on a Wookiee Cookie and sipping what appeared to be blue milk.

"Hello, Padme," she said with a sigh.

"Why the long face, my friend?" Padme asked, her brow crinkling in concern. "Are you all right? Is the Empire giving you trouble right now? Because if so, we can come and help. Not that I know where you are or anything, but Executor is at your service, so to speak."

Mon blinked at this offer and said, "I am well enough, thank you. But I have to admit I'm a bit discombobulated. What was that thing with Relinka Spetzv yesterday?"

"Oh, that," Padme said, setting down her Wookiee cookie and wiping her hand on her sensible black outfit. "I do feel sorry for Host Spetzv, but we won't hurt her."

Mon blinked more and said, "Well, that's good, I suppose, but what was the point of it all? Why did you tell the whole galaxy, Palpatine included, that you and Vader are going after him?"

"To scare him," Padme said sweetly.

Mon Mothma rubbed her forehead wearily and repeated, "To scare him?"

"Yes!"

"You really think that Palpatine is afraid of you?"

"Probably not of me," her old friend agreed, "but he is very afraid of Anakin, or he should be."

Mon Mothma scrunched up her nose and said, "Padme, I do understand that you ... well, Darth Vader, well..."

Padme sucked down the rest of her blue milk and said, "He loves me, I know that. And he loves the kids too. So yes, Palpatine has to die. Might not happen immediately, but if the Emperor has more than a few brain cells working, and he does, because whatever else he is, he is smart, he'll be cowering in the Palace or sticking to places with lots of protection. Anakin was the head of the Imperial Fleet, and with him opposed to Palpatine, well, it's going to be chaotic with the Fleet. Which is a good thing."

Mon tilted her head at these words and nodded slowly. "That ... is true," she admitted. "It's going to really...yes, I do see what you are saying, Padme. It will be easier to fight the Empire if it is fractured, if the warlords are fighting with one another..."

"Exactly! Now Mon, there is one thing we want from you."

The leader of the Rebel Alliance narrowed her eyes and said, "If this has anything to do with handing your children over to you, or having the children talk to you, the answer is no."

Padme shook her head and said, "No, I don't want that. I mean, I do, of course. I want to meet the kids more than anything. But… Anakin isn't the most stable isotope in the galaxy at the moment. I currently have him focused on killing off old Palpy, but if he has even a hint of where the kids are, he'll get distracted and that wouldn't be good for anyone. But I do beg you to keep the children safe, please. It would break my heart if something terrible happened to them, but Anakin would lose his mind. And when he loses his mind, bad things happen."

"Neither of them is inclined to be very cautious," Mon Mothma said delicately.

Padme rolled her eyes and said, "No surprise there, given their genetics. I understand, but just...you know, try to help them be sensible about the whole thing. Encourage them not to live insanely risky lives for a few weeks while we work on killing the Emperor. If they get captured by Palpatine, it's going to make life ... very messy."

"I understand," Mon Mothma said. "I will try."

/

Top Secret Conference Room

Hoth

A few Hours Later

"So what, we're just supposed to sit around on our butts and freeze here while our parents kill Palpatine?" Luke demanded indignantly. "That's totally lame!"

"I refuse," Leia chimed in, scowling hideously at the holoscreen which showed Mon Mothma's face.

"I thought you might," Mon said with a sigh. "But I do think Padme has the right idea here; you can work, but let's not send you into the heat of battle at the moment. If Palpatine captures either of you…"

"He doesn't necessarily know about us, right?" Luke demanded, tugging at his hair in frustration. The resulting hairstyle was interesting, to say the least, and Leia reached out a petite hand to smooth the top down a bit.

"He knows about you, certainly," Mon said sternly. "A Force sensitive pilot with the last name of Skywalker? He knows you are Padme and Vader's son. Leia, hopefully, is still a secret, but secrets do escape. You both need to lay low, and that is an order."

The twins grimaced in sync, exchanged glances, and reluctantly nodded.

"All right," Luke said.

"Besides, aren't you training with Master Yoda?" Mon demanded.

"We are," Luke admitted, "me more than Leia, because Leia is busier with political stuff, but yeah…"

"Focus on that," Mon Mothma ordered. "The sooner you are skilled in the ways of the Force, the better. Mothma out."

/

Conference Room

Home One

In orbit around Sullust

One month later

"Captain Solo."

"Admiral Ackbar," Solo replied to the Mon Calamarian admiral of the Rebel Fleet.

"I understand you have been working with settling the Wookiees recently freed from Kashyyyk?" the Admiral asked in his gravelly voice.

Han shot a quick glance at Chewbacca, who was standing nearby, and said "Well, Chewie and I have been, anyway. A bunch of them are moving to Hoth for now; they can handle the cold and so far, it seems the Empire doesn't know about Hoth. We are also trying to get them distributed among various small Rebel bases and ships in the Fleet, but that is gonna take some time. The most important thing is to get as many Wookiees off of Kashyyyk as possible, since Vader's ships in orbit around the planet have said they will bail if a major fleet under Palpatine shows up."

The admiral sighed mournfully. His own people had been invaded and enslaved by the Empire, and he well understood Chewbacca and Solo's concerns.

"That is frustrating," Ackbar said, "though I understand Vader's position. Practically speaking, it would be difficult for Vader to hold onto Kashyyyk if Palpatine was determined to retake the planet."

"Nor is it their plan to dig in on Kashyyyk, as far as we can tell," Leia Organa remarked. She had been reading through reports on her holopad while keeping an ear tuned toward the conversation about the Wookiees. "Vader and Padme Amidala have been behaving like the Rebellion more than the Empire; darting in, conquering local Imperial garrisons, freeing slaves, snatching plunder, and then disappearing within a week or two."

"I appreciate the Wookiees being freed," Han said, glancing at his copilot again, "but I am not sure what the point is."

The door opened at this juncture and Mon Mothma surged in with Luke Skywalker at her heels. She had obviously overheard Solo's last words because she said, "The point, I think, is to keep Palpatine off balance. These tactics are not Vader's; the man is a brilliant strategist, but he has not, at least since the birth of the Empire, bothered with guerrilla tactics. No, this is Amidala; she is deliberately designing a strategy which will leave the Emperor bewildered. If Vader's fleet is not on Kashyyyk, where is it? If Palpatine leaves Imperial Center, will Vader's fleet pop where he is going? It is a reasonable question; reports are somewhat uncertain, but a substantial portion of the Imperial Fleet has turned against Palpatine in favor of Vader."

"Which is frankly super weird," Luke said, shaking his head. "I mean, I know he's my father and all, but he is also incredibly dangerous and mean. Why would anyone want to work for him?"

"The obvious answer, Kid," Han said, "is that Palpatine is even meaner."

Luke could only sigh in agreement and Leia demanded, "But all of this is just delaying the inevitable, correct? I mean, at some point, Vader, or the Rebellion, will have to infiltrate Imperial Center and kill Palpatine and take over the planet, right?"

Mothma wrinkled her nose thoughtfully and said, "Palpatine must die, certainly, but Imperial Center can wait."

"It is the center of the galactic government!" the princess said.

"It is now, and has been in the past, but that need not continue in the future," the former Republic Senator pointed out. Yes, the position of Imperial Center means it is in the middle of many trade routes and the like, but there are other options. For that matter, there are so many sentients living on Imperial Center that it would not take much of a blockade before people began starving. Nearly 99% of the foodstuffs are imported now."

"I don't want to starve civilians," Luke protested.

"No one does, Luke, but Mon is right," Leia said. "I guess I was just assuming that we would want to take Imperial Center quickly, but it might be…more of a slow thing. For that matter, if Palpatine keeps hiding away in his palace while the rest of the galaxy falls to Vader or us, well, he will basically be reduced to Emperor of a single planet."

"We are a long way from conquering most of the galaxy," Admiral Ackbar said, and then broke off as a young Mon Calamarian aide rushed into the room, his large eyes bulging with excitement.

"Sirs," the aide cried out. "Relinka Spetzv has just started to broadcast an update on Vader's recent actions!"