CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The storm had lifted and the skies of Naboo were clear, letting the sun shine down on the green plains. But the atmosphere in Theed was anything but sunny.
The battle had continued for a few hours after the destruction of the Torment and the weather satellites, but the Imperial forces that had landed in the city had quickly been overwhelmed by the combined efforts of the New Republic and the Naboo Resistance. It was almost strange how easy victory had been, especially considering reports were still rolling in of struggles at other worlds afflicted by Operation: Cinder. But for now, the fighting was over. It was now a time of rest and recovery.
And mourning.
The funeral procession for Queen Kylantha had been set for the end of the week, after cleanup efforts had concluded. A new Queen would then be elected, with the most prospective candidate being the current Princess of Theed Sosha Soruna. With Moff Panaka no longer in power, the Constitution of Naboo would be reverted back to its pre-Imperial text; Panaka’s rule had introduced indefinite term limits in order to keep Kylantha, the Empire’s reluctant puppet, in power and prevent anyone with more obvious Rebel sympathies from taking the throne. That was not to say Kylantha would not be well-remembered, of course; she had done everything she could in her limited power to ensure that the people of Naboo lived peacefully under the Empire’s reign, even when it became increasingly more hard to do so.
Of course, there was still the matter of Lady Greejatus to deal with, and she was sure to mobilize Imperial forces to make another grab for Naboo. But with the Empire as fractured as it was, it would take some time for her to gather the necessary support. And Admiral Nantz had already agreed to leave behind a task force to defend the planet in the event the Empire did strike back.
Until then, it was time to rest. But Leia strongly doubted she would be getting any rest any time soon.
She stood in the corner of the throne room of Theed Palace, the throne itself vacant. Seated in the chairs surrounding it were the various members of the Advisory Council, deep in discussion about how to proceed forward. Leia did not listen to any of it and instead stood with Luke and Pooja Naberrie, deep in their own conversation.
Leia didn’t remember how the discussion had led up to it, or what had prompted the question, but she started listening intently when Luke asked Pooja, “What do you know about Queen Amidala?”
Pooja seemed taken aback by the question. “Why do you ask?”
“Curiosity,” Luke said. He then glanced at Leia. “And because we have a question that needs answering.”
Pooja shifted her feet, looking a bit uncomfortable. “Well, there’s not much I can say that isn’t already in the history books. She had already stepped down as Queen when I was born.” She cleared her throat. “But one thing you won’t hear often is the fact that she was my aunt.”
Leia’s eyes went wide. “Your aunt?”
Pooja nodded. “Her birth name was Padme Amidala. Her sister Sola is my mother.” She smiled sadly. “I wish I could say I have many memories of her. I was only seven years old when she died. I never did learn how she died, and my mother never wanted to talk about it.”
“My condolences,” Luke said sincerely. “Do you… know if she had any children?”
Pooja thought for a moment. “No. I believe she was pregnant when she died, and her child was unfortunately lost as well. At least, that’s what I had always been told.”
“I see.” Luke appeared to be deep in thought, no doubt considering how far to press the matter. He seemed to hesitate for a moment before then asking, “I apologize in advance for all of these questions, but I do have one more thing to ask you.”
Pooja inclined her head. “Please. I will try to answer it best I can.”
“Did your aunt know a man by the name of Anakin Skywalker?”
A cloud fell over Pooja’s face, although Leia realized it was more from a struggle to remember than because of any dark thoughts. “Yes, actually,” she murmured. “It was a long time ago—I must’ve been only four—but I do recall staying at my grandparents when Aunt Padme visited us and she was with this tall man. I do believe his name was Anakin.” She shook her head. “Again, I was only a child, so my memory is foggy.”
“It’s all right,” Luke said gently. “Do you remember anything else?”
“Well, there was this astromech droid. White and blue, I think.”
This time, it was Luke’s eyes that went wide. “White and blue?”
Pooja nodded. “It used to be in service on the Queen’s Royal Starship, but I believe my aunt was permitted to keep it after she stepped down as a gift of gratitude for her service. It pretty much followed her everywhere around, but after the Clone Wars started I didn’t see it as often.” She thought for another moment. “She might’ve even given it to Anakin, now that I think about it…”
Luke exchanged a glance with Leia. She knew what he was thinking, but there was no way it could be true. There had to be hundreds of white and blue astromech droids in the galaxy, if not thousands. Pooja hadn’t even specified whether it was actually an R2-unit as opposed to an R5 or anything else.
But that wasn’t going to stop him. “Pardon me,” Luke said, “but there’s someone we need to talk to. We’ll be back.”
“Of course,” Pooja said, but Luke was already leaving and Leia had to hurry to follow him, stopping only to give Pooja an apologetic look.
She followed Luke through the palace, unsure of where they were going until they reached the hangars. There, the Naboo pilots had gathered with the pilots that had been brought by the New Republic fleet, taking a rest as they recuperated from the hectic battle in the skies and prepared for recovery efforts. Luke scanned the crowd before making a straight line for one pilot in particular, next to whom was R2-D2. The pilot himself was not anyone Leia recognized, being a young human male no older than eighteen. Upon seeing Luke’s approach, the boy’s eyes went wide and he stood up to greet the Jedi Knight.
“Master Skywalker! You’re all right!”
Luke smiled. “That I am, Toah.” He gestured to Leia. “Leia, I would like you to meet Toah Jarsan. He helped me back on Dantooine.”
Leia offered Toah a polite smile as she extended her hand. “A pleasure to meet you.”
Toah merely gawked at her in awe as he shook her hand. At this point, Leia was used to such stunned reactions, especially from people as young as Toah.
R2-D2 expressed his excitement as well, warbling as he hobbled on his wheels towards Luke, who smiled as he patted the astromech’s dome. “It’s good to see you as well, Artoo. Been keeping Toah here safe?” The astromech blurted a beep and Luke chuckled. “Glad to hear it. Anyway, there’s something Leia and I need to talk to you about.”
R2 whirred warily as he lowered his middle appendage, ready to follow him. After pardoning themselves to Toah, Luke and Leia led the astromech out of the hangar and kept walking until they reached a small private alcove, just out of sight of the hangar bay. Luke then got down onto one knee and looked into R2’s photoreceptor.
“Artoo,” Luke said carefully, “when was the last time you had your memory wiped?”
R2 hesitated before responding in a low tone.
“How long is a long time ago?”
Another bout of silence before another hesitant beep.
Luke took a deep breath. “So you would remember the last twenty, thirty years, correct? Do you have any recollections of Naboo?”
Leia watched as R2 swiveled his dome slowly, looking uncomfortable under Luke’s gaze. His quiet whir indicated an affirmative answer.
“Do you remember a woman by the name of Padme Amidala?” When R2 started to shake slightly, Luke put a hand to his dome. “Please, Artoo. This is important. I need to know—we need to know the truth.”
Leia bit her lip as she looked down at R2. The astromech had been in the service of her family for many years; she had probably known him longer than Luke had. All that time, apparently, he had been keeping secrets from her; no doubt kept for the sake of her own safety. She imagined it violated some sort of inner programming for such a dutiful droid to be deceitful in anyway to their owner, which was the dilemma that R2 was now being faced with. But R2-D2 was more than just a droid that she and Luke “owned.” He was a companion. A friend. And right now, he needed to be treated as such.
Kneeling beside her brother, Leia smiled encouragingly at R2. “It’s okay, Artoo. We both understand that any secrets you’ve kept from us was for our own good. But we both know who our father—our real father—was and what he had become. It is all in the past now. He and the Emperor can’t threaten us anymore.”
“Please,” Luke said. “Show her to us. Show us our real mother.”
For the longest time, R2-D2 simply stood there, completely still. Then, he angled his holoprojector and the twins both stood up and stepped back as the astromech projected a tiny blue image in front of them.
The woman was absolutely beautiful, almost angelic in appearance. And she looked identical to the woman whose clone they had encountered back on Chommell Minor. She wore a elegant indigo dress and her hair was done up in a complicated fashion. Her eyes sparkled as she gazed up at the recipient of her message.
“Hi, Ani,” Padme said sweetly. “I’ve recorded this message for Artoo to play for you. I know it’s going to be a while before we’ll be able to see each other again, so I want to make sure you have a reminder that I will always be with you, no matter where in the galaxy you are.”
Leia and Luke simply stared down with mouths agape as they stared down at the hologram, laying eyes on their mother—their real mother—for the first time in their lives. The hologram changed, cycling through different scenes; showing Padme in a bridal gown as she held hands with a tall man who bore a striking resemblance to Luke, albeit with shorter hair and a braid hanging down their shoulder; showing her dancing with the man in a peaceful Naboo courtyard; showing them huddled together intimately in a beautiful garden.
Then, the scope of the hologram widened, and they saw their mother laying on some sort of medical berth, surrounded by midwife droids, the swelling of her belly indicating that she was pregnant. Watching her were two other men—one whom Leia recognized as her adoptive father, Bail Organa, the other resembling a young Obi-Wan Kenobi. Joining them was a small green creature in Jedi robes, resting on a walking stick with a grave expression on his face.
One of the medical droids was hovering in front of them, speaking. “Medically, she’s completely healthy. For reasons we cannot explain, we’re losing her.”
“She’s dying?” Obi-Wan asked, perplexed.
“We don’t know why,” the droid solemnly responded. “She’s lost the will to live.”
Leia suddenly found herself overwhelmed with emotion, unable to bear what she was seeing or hearing. Swallowing hard, her throat dry, she managed to croak out, “Shut it off, Artoo.”
“No.” Luke shook his head as he crouched down, looking almost mesmerized by the hologram. “I need to see this. We need to see this, Leia.”
“Well, I don’t. I don’t need to see… this.”
Luke looked up at her and frowned. “She’s our mother, Leia.”
Holding back tears, Leia looked back down at the sorrowful scene before shutting her eyes, hoping to banish the image from her mind.
“This is not how I want to remember her.”
For a moment, Luke said nothing. Then, when their mother began to cry out in agony, he said to R2, “That’s enough for now.”
The astromech dutifully obliged him and he stood up to his full height, walking over to Leia and putting his hands on either of her shoulders.
“It’s okay,” he said softly. “She is one with the Force now.”
Leia could say nothing. Instead, she let the tears run freely from her eyes and sobbed as she threw herself into her brother’s arms.
For a long time, the two of them simply stood there, holding each other as they let the silence speak for them.
* * *
Days passed. The night had ended with the funeral procession for the late Queen Kylantha. The recovery efforts had concluded and Admiral Nantz was taking most of his fleet to the Anoat sector to aid Burnin Konn, joined by Lando and his Commandos. A task force had been left behind as promised, and Luke was confident that Naboo was in good hands.
There was just one loose end he still needed to tie up.
Toah was waiting in the Theed Hangar, standing by a New Republic shuttle set to take him wherever he wished, whether that be Dantooine or somewhere else. Even as he approached, Luke could sense his conflict, and when the younger man turned to look at him, he seemed somewhat saddened by the sight of Luke in his orange flightsuit, indicating that he was ready to leave as well and that this would be where they were likely to part ways.
“I take it this is goodbye, then?” Toah asked.
“Well, that depends,” Luke replied. “I was thinking about heading back to Dantooine, although it would probably have to wait until after the Provisional Council’s talks with the Pentastar Alignment. I hear that Ambassador Madurrin is going to serve as mediator.”
Toah nodded. “She’s already aboard. I would be happy to go with you to Dantooine, but… there’s not much else for me there.”
“I hear you fared well in the battle, even with Artoo’s help,” Luke pointed out. “I think if Nien and Lando put in a good word for you, they could get you in for flight training.”
Toah smiled at that. “That would be great. What about you?”
Luke shrugged. “Dantooine might be off limits, but there still might be other traces of the Jedi Order somewhere out there. I just need to find them.”
“I hope you do. The galaxy needs the Jedi. As great as you are, you cannot carry the burden all on your own.”
Luke nodded in agreement, his thoughts going back to Leia. She had handled herself quite well with a lightsaber, and as far as he knew she had kept the weapon taken from Tarr-Nar-Mal. Perhaps after the Empire had been quelled and things were less chaotic, he would be able to start training her, and begin properly rebuilding the Jedi Order.
Until then, however… he just needed to be patient. The time would come, and soon, the Jedi would be reborn.
And as he looked at Toah, Luke realized that he would not need to look far for prospective students.
Smiling to the younger man, Luke said, “May the Force be with you, Toah Jarsan. Hopefully our paths will cross again.”
And I believe they will, he added silently to himself. Very, very soon.
* * *
It had been nearly three days since the Battle of Naboo had ended, and Han was ready to leave.
It wasn’t that Naboo was a bad place to visit—quite the opposite in fact. And he wasn’t exactly eager to get back to the Fleet and have to hear about the bad things still unfolding in the rest of the galaxy as the Empire continued its campaign against various, almost randomly selected worlds. But at the same time, he didn’t feel like he belonged here. Everyone besides the guards and resistance fighters were dressed in fancy clothes, and even the resistance leader had gone back to wearing opal dresses as opposed to the tactical gear she had been wearing. He felt underdressed and out of place, and he never felt comfortable or safe when he felt out of place, even when he was supposedly among allies.
So when Leia stepped onto the Millennium Falcon after having bid farewell to Pooja and the leaders of Naboo, he was more excited than he had ever been in the past few months.
“All right,” he said jovially to her, putting on his best grin as he greeted her at the landing ramp. “The Falcon’s all prepped and ready to go. You have the coordinates to the rendezvous point?”
“Han,” Leia said quietly, “I need to tell you something.”
For the first time, Han noticed the strange expression on her face and his grin melted into a frown. He reached out and put his hands on her shoulders. “Hey. What’s wrong?”
She slowly reached up to remove his hands from her shoulders in order to hold them in hers. She looked up at him and her brown eyes were red and watery. “We’ve been through a lot together, haven’t we?”
Han stared at her, studying her face carefully. “Yeah, we have.”
“Five years ago, we were at each other’s throats, always making snide jabs and sarcastic remarks towards each other. Now look where we are now.”
“Yeah, pretty crazy to think.” He then narrowed his eyes. “You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”
“No.” Leia smiled, and it took him aback slightly. It was perhaps the happiest smile he had ever seen on her face. “Quite the opposite in fact. I wouldn’t give it up for the galaxy.”
“Uh huh.” Han nodded slowly, still skeptical. “Are you sure you’re feeling all right?”
“Well, I was a bit sick this morning. But then I got some news that has me really excited and scared.” She squeezed his hands. “Our lives are going to change forever.”
Han sucked in his breath, suddenly realizing where this was going. “Leia… are you…?”
She took his hand and rested it on her stomach.
“Han,” she said softly, “I’m pregnant.”
And just like that, the whole galaxy seemed to spin away from him.
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