Chapter 10: Deliberations
Alderaanian Embassy, Coruscant
Leia tapped a stylus on the desk impatiently as she watched the news scroll across the screen in front of her: Queen Amidala of Naboo calls for tightening laws against poachers. New immigration restrictions enacted on Talus…
She snapped the monitor closed and leaned back, stretching her neck from side to side to loosen stiffened muscles.. It was impossible to discover just how far along her enemy was in his plans from the public news reports. At the moment, he was still posing as a beloved grandfather-type, trying to untangle the bureaucracy of the Republic for the benefit of its citizens. It did not escape Leia's attention that he allowed the impression that he was Queen Amidala's mentor to go unchallenged in editorial commentary, not quite taking credit for the young woman's popularity or overtly portraying her as naïve, but never suppressing such speculation either. Leia wondered how that would change when the queen's second term ended and she entered the Senate.
Sooner or later, I'm going to need to speak privately with her, Leia admitted, and I have no idea what I'm going to say. "Hello, we've never met, but I'm your daughter from the future. Let's talk about avoiding bad choices in men." Right. That would go well.
That thought reminded her of the decision she'd made about Han. Unlike her plan to save Shmi, rescuing Jaina Solo from an early death on Corellia had absolutely nothing to do with balancing the Force, saving the Republic, or preserving her people. But when it had occurred to her that Han's mother was probably still alive and that with some persistence, she could find the young woman and lure her to Coruscant where her son could be raised and educated, if not in luxury, than without the soul-searing poverty which had him running the streets by age seven…she could not stop herself from intervening.
Guilt, Leia thought, is a powerful motivator. She had had plenty of time to contemplate the pattern of her marriage in the six years between Ben's fall to the Dark Side and Han's death on Starkiller base, and she had, with great reluctance, concluded that the two of them shouldn't have married in the first place. At least not so quickly, in the flush of joy at the defeat of the Empire, and then before the dust had really settled or they had found their balance as a couple, they had had a child. The whole thing was doomed from the start. Not that she had ever stopped loving him, and certainly not because, as any number of her colleagues had implied, they were from different social classes. No, the problem, she'd concluded, was that we were both deeply broken people too stubborn to ask for help.
She had thought it was strength that kept her from seeing one of the counselors Mon kept recommending with whom to work through the traumas of the war, when it was obviously fear and avoidance. I just wanted it to be all over, to move forward and stop dreaming about about Tarkin and Vader and my utter failure to protect those I loved.
True love, she had discovered, was a real thing, but not a cure for PTSD. And Han, she sighed, Han never really believed he was worthy of happiness. Everyone he had ever trusted, except for Chewie, had betrayed or abandoned him. Some deep part of him believed that he didn't deserve to be loved, so when everything went wrong, he felt that the voices that threw him away as a scumrat when he was a child had been proven right.
So she had decided that Han Solo would get a second chance, a different life from the one he'd lived before. Would it be a better life? Leia honestly didn't know. He probably won't have Chewbacca this time, she admitted to herself, or Luke. Or me. But there will be other friends, other loves. He won't be the famous Corellian smuggler who made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs. Will he become a Rebellion General? Will there even be a Rebellion?
Leia rubbed her temples. Have I made a mistake, a self-indulgent mistake? She wondered. Without his innate distrust of authority, this choice may have ceded one of the finest pilots in the galaxy to the Empire. The thought of Han Solo working for Darth Sidious was both horrifying and ridiculous. If the Force expects me to resist alleviating suffering in the present for the possibility that it will avoid greater suffering in the future, then It picked the wrong general, she told herself. She was willing to sacrifice herself for a cause, even to sacrifice others who fought for the same things, but children? No. If I were that kind, she thought, I'd walk up to Anakin Skywalker right now and simply lop off his head.
She spent a few minutes allowing herself to fantasize about doing just that before returning to the screen in front of her.
And that's another task, she reminded herself, leaning forward to search for communications channels to Takodama, I'm going to need a lightsaber.
An hour later, G2N1 knocked gently at the door, "Princess? There is a Jedi from the Coruscant Temple here to see you."
Leia gestured at the droid to show her visitor inside the suite, while a dry female voice chortled over the comm channel. "From the mouth of an exogorth to floating trash! Oh, that's a good tale."
"I'm glad you liked it," Leia answered, "but is it enough to get me what I want?"
"Perhaps. For the right price. They are very rare, you know, and quite expensive," the voice warned.
"I believe we can negotiate a fair price, though I warn you that certain parties will be…disturbed…to find it in my possession."
"The Force abhors complacency, and the Council needs to wake up, that I can see for myself. Transfer the funds, and I will arrange delivery," Maz assured her, "but you must fulfill your other promise as well."
"My word as an Alderaanian," Leia promised. "And I thank you for your help." Closing the connection, she swiveled her chair towards the young Mon Calamari who had entered the room.
"Master Organa?" he greeted her, "I am Padawan Nahdar Vebb; I have been sent from the Temple to invite you to address the Jedi Council. I'm to tell you that they are most eager to speak with you."
Leia smiled, "Welcome, Padawan Vebb. Please inform the Council that I will appear before them at their convenience. With one stipulation: the presence of Jedi Master Obiwan Kenobi and his apprentice."
Nahdar frowned. "It is not the custom of the council to allow others to decide who will witness their deliberations."
"Understood. Nevertheless, please convey my regards, but also my conditions." Leia said firmly. "I have a great deal to tell the Council, but I will only do so with Kenobi and Skywalker present."
"I will give them your message, Master, though I am not certain how it will be received."
High Council Tower, Jedi Temple on Coruscant
"Absolutely not," Saesee Tiin said firmly. "This…girl…will come before us, and she will not dictate terms. We must discover the truth about her, about her power, and this rival jedi order, or she and her companions must leave Coruscant."
"That would be difficult to accomplish," Master Windu pointed out, "as she's currently living at the embassy. Technically, she's in Alderaanian territory, and we have no authority to make her leave."
"Her recognition by House Organa places us in a difficult position," Plo Koon noted. "As Princess and Heir, she has a political base outside of the Temple. We have seen how such ties can lure a jedi away from the Code. Consider, would Count Dooku have left us so easily if he had not been able to reclaim his title?"
Depa Billaba drew in a breath and let it out slowly, calming herself. "If Master Windu is correct, we must speak with Master Organa, regardless of her affiliations. Her visions of the future…"
"Time travel is impossible!" Saesee objected.
"…nevertheless, we are still missing a Sith Lord, and none of us has been able to discern their identity or location," Depa continued. "If Leia Organa can shed light on that which has evaded us, we need to listen to her story. Surely, all of us together will be able to tell whether or not she is lying."
"Master Windu," Yoda asked, "certain are you the device in the Throne of Alderaan a kyber crystal is?"
"I was not able to examine it closely," Mace answered, "but I felt a clear disturbance in the Force when it was activated. Whatever its true nature, every Antilles and Organa on the planet felt themselves overwhelmed by Master Organa's memory of the destruction of Alderaan. They are utterly convinced that she is genuine." He frowned. "Master Kenobi will keep our secrets, if necessary, but I do not understand what this woman wants with a padawan."
"Young are the Queen and Viceroy, but fools they are not, hmmm." Yoda looked around the room. "Disturbed I am at Organa's request that Skywalker be present at her testimony, yet an alternative I cannot see. Question her, we must." Reluctantly, the rest of the Council agreed, even Master Tiin.
And now, Mace thought to himself, Leia Organa has the Jedi Council itself doing as she asks. Who is this woman?