Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Star Wars movies, shows, books, comics or games. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not for sale, or rent. The Mobile Armors, and later Mobile Suits mentioned in the story are inspired by the various Gundam shows. They obviously belong to their respective creators, and, or copyright owners.
Chapter 7
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Part 3
=FG=
hangar
orbital mirror Light Bringer
high orbit above Coruscant
Coruscant system
He was a smuggler, for the Stars' sake! Even Han knew he wasn't the right man to lead what was for most intents and purposes, a diplomatic catastrophe in progress! He was ready to pay good credits to figure out what in the name of all Nine Corellian Hells happened on board Home One!
Ackbar's orders not to attack the Imperials were one thing, even if they were distasteful. Han knew long odds when he saw them, and these were long indeed! Trying to live up to his current ridiculous title of General, he had bothered reading various intelligence briefings. If for no other reason, to figure out how not to get a bunch of good people, and more importantly, himself and Chewie, killed.
That Pellaeon fellow was apparently one of the best commanders the Empire had. It was only thanks to dirty politics that he was still stuck as a Captain, instead of being an Admiral, raising all kinds of hell. He was one of the longest surviving commanders under Vader, and that was telling. The man had much blood on his hands, and more importantly, was competent.
Han loathed dealing with the few and far between competent Imperials. Running circles around most of the Imperials was easy. The rare ones who knew what they were doing behind the helm, or in command? Those were the kind of bastards that could easily get you killed.
That was a big problem now because Han had that nagging suspicion that the new Imps were competent. Their small, heavy armored security detail looked sharp in those ridiculously sleek armors of theirs. This was one of the rare occasions when the smuggler wasn't sure if his painstakingly tweaked blaster would be sufficient if things went straight to the deepest Hell.
On the bright side, Luke was here, and his Jedi space magic might be useful.
On the other hand, Han had to fight the need to draw his weapon and shoot that tall, blond smiling bastard, who had a suspicious resemblance to Luke. He was one of the few people who knew for a fact who was behind Vader's mask. How couldn't he, when he caught Leia ranting at Luke about their bastard of a father…
Well, said bastard was very much alive now, and worse, didn't need a heavy suit to keep him alive.
Then, there was the thin slip of a woman, who looked positively tiny besides not-Vader. She had a striking resemblance to a certain princess, which Han was very fond of, yet was out of his league.
"Uh, Luke, I'm seeing you here. Chewie's with us, which is always good!" Han pointedly looked around. "Not that I don't trust your judgment or something, but where are our diplomats?"
"There were some complications on Home One. I'm here with Ackbar's blessing to try and avoid a catastrophe, while he is straightening up things with Mothma and Leia."
"That's not a conversation to have here and now." Madine walked from behind Luke, flanked by a pair of Pathfinder guards in full combat gear.
"What he said." Luke shrugged.
Han had to fight again, this time not to scowl at the other Corellian. They were already making enough of a show in front of the Imperials. At least they were content to just stand near their shuttle and pair of escorting fighters, quietly observing the situation.
"I'll want an explanation after this is over, you know that, right? I'm smelling politics and not liking it at all." Han pointed out. Then he put forth his best charming smile and walked towards the Imperials projecting his best confident facade.
Luke and Madine followed suit, with the Pathfinders falling in behind them. As they approached, a blue-skinned woman with solid red eyes materialized out of the shadows behind the armored Imperials and took position to the right of the short woman, so she was between her and not-Vader.
"Welcome to Coruscant!" Luke began when they got close enough. "I'm Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, acting as an advisor to the New Republic government for this meeting. These are Generals Solo and Madine, representing the New Republic and its military."
Three pairs of eyes narrowed at that introduction, and this time Han didn't bother even trying to hide his wince. That wasn't a good first impression.
"I'm Senator Padme Skywalker, from Naboo, the Diplomatic Representative of the Federated Empire. With me are Imperial Knights Anakin Skywalker, my husband," the woman who had to be a different version of Leia's mother proudly announced. "And Imperial Knight, Aria Astra of Clan Veil, Representing the interests of the Mandalorian Freehold and Mandalore the Restorer."
The Chiss woman simply nodded, while her red eyes gave nothing away.
Han could bet that there were many subtle messages in that introduction, however, they all flew over his head. He however noted that one of their Jedi equivalents did represent the Mandalorians of all people. This was one of those cases, when he felt terribly out of his depth, and had to fake it like the best of them.
"Under the circumstances, I won't waste any more precious time with diplomatic niceties. People are dying down on Coruscant while we speak! We have holds full with Bacta and relief supplies that do no one any good staying where they are!" The Senator began a vicious verbal assault.
If Han had had any doubts about this being Leia's mother, the passionate way she spoke and her whole bearing dispelled them. This was eerily like watching an older Leia tear into some poor bastard. Or being on the receiving end of her sharp tongue and not in a good way. Han had a lot of experience with both.
"That's a very good sentiment and something we would appreciate…" Madine coolly answered. "If we can trust you have Bacta and supplies to offer that are free of nasty surprises. At this point, there is virtually no trust between anyone and us proclaiming to be the Galactic Empire or to follow similar values. And for good reason. They spilled too much innocent blood and betrayed any agreement as soon as it was convenient."
The short Senator glared daggers at Madine, then turned to Luke. Her gaze briefly softened, before stealing again.
"Knight Skywalker, can you confirm I am telling the truth?" Padme demanded.
Everyone looked at Luke, who for once appeared to want to be anywhere but there.
"The Force is in flux. I can't say for sure." The kid admitted.
"The Dark Side is dancing with glee you mean," Astra announced.
Whatever that meant, it wasn't a good thing, Han guessed.
"It is your Master's fault. It always is." Not-Vader grumbled.
"For once, he can take no credit." Astra shot back.
"Behave." Padme sharply demanded. "General Madine, what it would take to convince you that we bring relief supplies and cooperate in their distribution? Do note that we are yet to discuss the New Republic's unprovoked attack on Federal Imperial forces at Cal-Seti, and we will expect reasonable restitution."
"If it was up to me, I would get the damn things properly scanned, then ship them down for distribution yesterday!" Han answered before Madine could open his mouth again and make things worse.
"Is it up to you, General Solo?" Not-Vader looked pointedly at him.
"Not entirely," Han admitted. "Luke?"
"I'm a Jedi. I'll back anything within reason that saves lives and minimizes suffering."
That statement won Luke a pair of approving and proud looks.
"At the very least, we'll need to scan all aid coming from channels that aren't secure. Then we can allow it to reach Coruscant," Madine announced in such a calm tone, that it rang alarm bells within Han's head. "That should be something we all could agree on. We would also need a clarification about your take on the Empire's New Order you proclaim to follow, as well as your intentions in coming here."
=FG=
Part 4
=FG=
hangar
orbital mirror Light Bringer
high orbit above Coruscant
Coruscant system
"Do you have the people and infrastructure to check all the aid we're bringing in a timely manner? People are dying as we speak!" The Senator demanded. Her eyes narrowed fiercely at Madine.
"Not at this time, no." The other Corellian admitted. "However, more people will die if your supplies are contaminated, and that is not something we can risk." The General countered.
"You don't need to check every single shuttle with supplies, just enough to make sure there's no universal contamination. Even if some of the aid is tainted, Coruscant can use the rest. Let Luke use his space wizardry to choose shuttles we'll check, then you get your best people and scanners on board and check them ASAP." Han suggested.
"I can do that!" Luke pipped up.
"That will be a compromise we can accept," Padme noted, still glaring at Madine.
"I'll need to clear it with Acting Chancellor Mothma, first. We can provisionally agree on such a compromise." Madine relented too fast for Han's comfort. "Now, please explain plainly why you're here and what you intend."
"We couldn't just ignore a new galaxy replacing the Unknown Regions." The Chiss woman deliberately spoke slowly, as if to a child. "Besides, my Master foresaw all kinds of opportunities and interesting things to be found here."
"Considering what that man usually finds interesting, dispatching a military expedition to scout was a prudent course of action." Skywalker pointed out.
By now, Han was pretty sure he would like to never meet that man, whoever he was. From the sound of it, he might just be their equivalent of Vader.
"Veil's stunts aside, when we heard about what has been happening out here, our government decided it would be for the best to make certain points, so there would be no mistakes." Padme continued. "The Federated Empire and its member states find senseless murder and brutality most offensive. The same goes for the unprovoked deployment of biological or chemical weapons against civilian targets. One of the primary reasons for our presence is to make it plain for everyone to see we strongly disapprove of the actions carried out by one Ysanne Yard and the likes of Warlord Zsinj. We intend to do this by supplying the people of Coruscant with Bacta, food, and other aid, free of strings attached."
"What did your Zsinj do?" Madine asked, clearly curious.
"He betrayed the Republic in its darkest hour, and conquered the Corporate Sector, becoming a damn Warlord. Nowadays, he's in bed with the Confederate Remnant and still holds that region." Skywalker explained. "Needless to say, there are only a few veterans from the war who don't look forward to crushing him when the time comes."
"I see. The bastard remains a dangerous opportunist with no loyal bone in his body, no matter the galaxy." Madine concluded.
"The other primary objective of ours was opening diplomatic relations with your New Republic and figuring out what your leadership thought by attacking our newest member system without provocation." The Senator continued.
Rumors and political posturing aside, Han wanted to know what Hudsol thought when going to Cal-Seti, and more importantly, what exactly were his orders. However, that was something he might never find out for sure with the man conveniently dead.
"I can shed some light on your last inquiry, Senator Skywalker," Madine said. "General Hudsol was supposed to secure Cal-Seti against Imperial encroachments. By holding that system, the New Republic would have been able to keep any Imperial factions and forces in the deep Eastern fringes of the Core from interfering in the ongoing war. It's the same reason why you took Cal-Seti, we wanted to secure our border in the region."
Han could bet it was more than that, but with Hudsol unable to contradict Madine's words there wasn't much to be done at this time.
"He did express similar sentiments before engaging Piett's forces," Astra noted. "He wasn't a fan of anyone with Imperial sympathies, was he?"
"There aren't many people in the New Republic willing to voice such sentiments. The conduct of the Emperor, his chief cronies, and certain Warlords saw the ideas of the New Order tarnished, perhaps beyond repair." Madine admitted, ringing yet another alarm bell in Han's head.
"Is that so, Jedi Skywalker?" Not-Vader asked Luke. "I'm sure we all would like to hear your opinion on the topic."
It was almost painful to watch Luke both preen at the attention, yet look like he wanted to get away from it, yesterday. It was obvious, that he hadn't gotten yet over his farm-boy origins. Just like Han was a smuggler at heart, but one who could fake it with the best of them.
"The Empire blew up Alderaan for no good reason! They were going to blow up Yavin IV too, and only the Force knows how many other worlds!" Luke winced at his outburst and looked at the deck. "Whatever their New Order was supposed to stand for, it was either no better than the Banta fodder the Hutt try to sell to everyone or had gone wrong."
"Do you know what their New Order is supposed to stand for, young Jedi?" Astra inquired. "What about ours? You're supposed to know your enemies, what they stand for, what drives them."
"I saw their actions! They killed my Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen just because we bought R2 and C-3PO when he had the Death Star's plans! It doesn't matter what they proclaim they stand for when it's plain to see they're evil." Luke finished his brief tirade more calmly.
"Things are seldom that simple when politics on a galactic scale are involved, Jedi Skywalker." Not-Vader sighed. "Despite my wife's best intentions, that was a harsh truth both of us had to learn years ago." He raised a black-gloved arm, which while sleeker than Vader's, made Han feel a phantom sensation of someone choking the air out of him. "Don't get me wrong, I won't ever attempt to defend the senseless destruction of whole worlds. By the Force, even when Veil did it, he had good enough justification to pass muster against some members of the Senate and retain public support…" Not-Vader shook his head.
"What my husband is trying to say is a sad truth the Republic was excellent in covering up. An act of corruption, oppression or outright invasion can benefit as many if not more people as it directly harms. What's morally right, or just, for one group, can harm the interests of another. In the end, all we could do is do what is best for the people we represent, for our citizens, and if at all feasible, find a way to ensure their prosperity without infringing upon the liberties of others." Padme quietly explained. "Sadly, we live in an imperfect galaxy. In the end, if the choice is between getting our hands and conscience dirty, and ensuring the best odds for our peoples' security and prosperity, then there is no choice at all."
"That's not something I can accept." Luke shook his head in denial.
"Neither the Galaxy as a whole nor the Force, cares, young Jedi," Astra added.
"I still want to hear you explain your New Order, Senator Skywalker," Madine deftly changed the topic.
At that moment, Han wasn't sure if he should thank the man or stop struggling with the need to punch him.
=FG=
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