Star Wars Genesis: Revolt

By: Cyan

Rated: PG-13

Note from the author: this is the FIRST DRAFT, as in it has not been edited at all, chances are that the final version will be different than this. Please excuse any errors on my part. This is the second part to an ongoing series, if you haven't read "Star Wars: Genesis -Beginnings End" yet, please do so now. You won't get a damn thing that's going on.
--Jennifer Embree

Revolt

Chapter I

The shuttle reverted back to real space just in time for its hyperdrive to falter and die. The shields flickered and stayed on but with just enough power to sustain one direct turbolaser blast. The shuttle’s hull was smeared with black scorch marks from heavy fire, and its sublight engines, fortunately, were in the best condition of the whole ship. They had come out of hyperspace just outside of the star system, it’s yellow star sparkling and twinkling in the distance. It would take them hours to reach the system’s only inhabitable planet, Coruscant. But after the harrowing journey they had just been through, the shuttle’s captain didn’t mind one bit.
"Don’t you two worry," former first officer of the Cragon battle ship, the Threnody, said. "I’ll get you to your new home." At least that’s what I hope, Harsa thought uneasily. He glanced away from the display to look at his daughter Wisp staring out at the new sight with utter joy and the pale boy who looked at things with a strange detachment as if he were only watching a holovid. He turned his eyes—one pale blue, the other a vibrant green—to Harsa and seemed to say, We’re not there yet.
Harsa turned back to his work, setting a course to the world that was the centre of the New Republic. The world where he was bringing the son of one of the Republic’s most celebrated heroes. The world where he would give all the secrets of the Force to the Republic’s military. The world where he would betray his people.
Harsa sighed and initiated their course, sitting back in his chair to wait. The hyperdrive was damaged when Harsa had escaped from the losing fight when Quarrcta di Donna’s three battleships, Cragon’s Pride, Di Donna’s Legacy, and Jedis’ Requiem finally found the Threnody. They methodically took out her entire set of formable defenses until there was nothing left for them to throw at their enemies but their bitter defeat. The Admiral in charge of the Threnody, a human with a talent for torture named Tarckok, knowing that if he were captured he would suffer unbelievable torture of his own, had taken Harsa to the secret levels where the two children were kept. The human boy was the son of Luke Skywalker, their former prisoner, and Quarrcta wanted him badly. Tarckok had thought to use him as a hostage to escape certain death. But Harsa had previously betrayed Tarckok, and the only reason he still served the human was because he had taken Wisp and promised to kill her if Harsa didn’t keep working for him. When Tarckok turned his back to him, Harsa took the chance and killed the Admiral, taking the two children and escaping in Tarckok’s own personal shuttle. They made it to hyperspace, but not before taking heavy damage from Quarrcta’s battleships.
But that was all in the past now, and Harsa had more pressing matters to attain to. Like getting the stolen research done on the Force back to the Jedi so they could take proper preventative measures. There was nothing he could do at the moment to speed things up so Harsa un-strapped his buckles and began to go aft to play with the children. But he was halted when an alarm warned that a ship had just exited hyperspace nearby. Harsa directed the portside sensors towards the source of the disturbance and sank into his chair again with shock. Jedis’ Requiem had somehow managed to follow them here. Quarrcta was so desperate to keep the Jedi baby and the research out of New Republic hands that he was willing to risk one of his favorite battleships by sending it to the very centre of their enemy’s realm. Harsa knew he could not outrun the battleship, but he could try and make the incident as loud and as obvious to Coruscant’s sensors as he could. Perhaps they would see the battle and send someone out to investigate. It was a slim chance, but it was Harsa’s only option besides suicide.
Swinging the shuttle into evasive maneuvers, Harsa shunted full power to the rear deflectors. He heard a click behind him but ignored it; unless something else broke it did not concern him. He broke hard to port, then down, then to port again, hoping to confuse Requiem’s gunners. But an ion cannon blast skimming by the view port proved him wrong. He was about to slew the shuttle to starboard when a little hand reached up and made them pull up. Harsa shoved Ben out of the way and looked back at the screen just in time to notice if they had gone in the direction he had wanted too, they would have flown right into an ion blast. Harsa whistled in surprise—he hadn’t realized that Jedi children developed their skills at such a young age. Suddenly Ben reached up and shoved the lever again, swinging the ship out of the way of another blast. Realizing Ben would be there whether Harsa wanted him to or not, he put the boy on his lap and concentrated on strengthening their shields and seeing what he could do about the hyperdrive.
Suddenly the com beeped with an incoming message. After hesitating for a second, Harsa slapped the switch. The deep blue face of Requiem’s com officer appeared. He gave Harsa the calm expression of someone doing a hard job that had been done one too many times. "Commander Harsa you are ordered by his lordship Quarrcta di Donna to allow your shuttle to be boarded so that you may be returned to your rightful place as an officer of honor in the Cragon Navy. He sends his further assurances that you will not be penalized for succumbing to the blackmail forced upon you by the disgraced Admiral Tarckok. He fully understands that you were only doing what any other loyal Chiss would do to protect your family." There was a pause then the com officer added, "He also sends his gratitude for saving the research and the Skywalker child from the Threnody. Your foresight saved them from being destroyed along with the all the rest of the unfortunate crew of that battleship."
Harsa’s brow furrowed. Quarrcta had forgiven him? But he had betrayed his people. He had tried to take child and research to the New Republic. He would have ruined any chance of the Cragon Dynasty catching the Republic and the Empire by surprise. And yet Quarrcta was forgiving him? It was a trick, of course. Quarrcta just wanted to get the Jedi baby and research with as little fuss as possible.
Harsa was reaching for the switch to turn the com off when suddenly Ben some how shut down the shields! Harsa smacked Ben’s hand away from the controls just before the shuttle came to a shuttering stop. Harsa was throw forward, inadvertently crushing Ben between him and the control panel. He sat back and turned the boy around to make sure he wasn’t injured. Seeing he was fine, Harsa’s gaze was caught by Ben’s, sad and resigned one. Harsa looked out the view port and saw the slowly expanding view of Requiem irrevocably drawing them closer and closer to her dark belly.
"Do you even realize what you’ve done? They’ll kill me, and make your life a living hell!" Harsa said, giving Ben a useless shake. Ben shook his head and looked up at Harsa with brilliant eyes. And then, amazingly enough, he spoke!
"Da come!"
Harsa blinked in surprise. "What did you say?"
"Da come! Da come!"
"Da?" Harsa asked. "What in the hell is a ‘da’?" Ben’s small pale brow furrowed. Then his eyes lit up again and he reached into his baggy shit and pulled something out. Harsa took it form him and gave the child a puzzled look. "How in the All did you get your father’s lightsaber? Wait—of course! ‘Da’ as in ‘da da’. I should have known. You mean he’ll come for us? He’s alright?" Ben seemed to think about it for a second. Then he nodded emphatically. "How can you tell?" Ben gave him a sour glare and took the lightsaber back. "Then I guess they wont kill me outright. And that would make this our best choice. Alright, you win."
Harsa turned to com and opened his channel after he had put the human child on the floor. He flicked the switch and said, "Tell Quarrcta I except his gratitude and give my renewed allegiance to him and the Dynasty."

———————————

"He’s alive Han! I know it," Mara Jade-Skywalker said emphatically.
Han Solo stopped walking to the kitchen of his home in the Imperial Palace of Coruscant to take his sister-in-law by the shoulders. He looked her in her eyes and stated firmly, "We’d all like to believe that, Mara, but it’s not true. You’re just going to have to accept the fact that Luke is dead and no amount of self-delusion is going to bring him back to life." Han sighed and ran his hand through his graying brown hair. He wore his usual vest but he refused to put his Correllien blood stripes on his pants since the death of his best friend Luke Skywalker. Luke was Leia twin brother but Han had known him since he was sixteen and neither of the siblings knew their own relation. Everyone was in morning, and shock, from the traumatic way he had died. Han had always known, in a way that Luke would never die of natural causes. But he had never suspected that the Jedi Master would lose his life through an act of insanity. Still under stress from the kidnapping of his and Mara’s new born son by a Chiss cult called the Cragon, Luke had little emotional reserves left to battle the grief brought on by the severance of the mental bond between him and the exceptional bronze dragon named Cyan. Whether the bond was broken by the dragon’s death or Cyan’s on volition was a question only one man could give the answer to, Talon Karrad. Unfortunately he now lay in coma, a result of his attempting to stop Luke when the Jedi started his rampage. Karrad was thrown down a staircase when Luke tried to kill Leia—who in his mind was responsible for Cyan’s death—after his tenuous grip on sanity failed him.
Though Mara agreed that Leia had purposely killed Cyan, she knew killing Leia was not the answer. She helped Han protect Leia, entering into a fight with Luke that the press had dubbed "The Battle of Wills". Mara was able to draw on Leia and the rest of the Jedi on Coruscant to strengthen her against Luke’s attack. Though she was successful, it was only because the shock waves of the battle brought the hanger they were in crashing down on Luke, crushing him to death.
Or so everyone else believed. Though no one blamed her, Mara took the whole incident on as her fault. Even now she looked far different than her usual neat self. Her red-gold hair tumbled about her face, straying from the lose ponytail she had attempted to put it in. It fell in front of her jade flecked eyes, failing to succumb to her attempts to brush it out of the way. She was dressed in the kind of no-nonsense body suit she favored, but the material was rumpled and her face lined with worry and lack of sleep.
"It’s not self-delusion!" Mara insisted, shaking Han’s hands off her shoulders. "I can feel it. If Luke were dead, the bond between him and I would have been broken, just like with Cyan, right?"
Han sighed. "Yeah, I guess so…"
"Well I can still feel the bond through the Force. He can’t be dead," Mara said, as sure of her words as she was that she was still alive. Han looked her in the face, saw her conviction…and gave up.
"Alright, you win. He’s alive," Han said warily. "Then where is he?"
Mara grinned and rubbed her hands together eagerly. "I don’t know exactly where he is. But I think he’s still on Coruscant. It’s obvious he’s wounded, so he’s probably still near the hanger." Mara gave Han her best pleading expression. "I need someone who knows the area. It’s either you, or Lando. And I like you more."
"Mara! You don’t even haft to ask," Han said surprised. "Just let me eat my breakfast and we’ll get right to work. But I think we should get some others to help. He more than likely headed down, and I’d rather have a few people with me when I’m in the lower levels."
"No argument there. Don’t worry about getting others, there’s plenty of people who want to help out," Mara told him.

* * *

"So what exactly are we looking for?" Corran Horn shouted from atop the pile of ruble. It had taken some cajoling, but Mara had somehow managed to convince the company that owned the hanger to leave off the repair work until they finished a final search. Han had come of course, along with the rest of the Jedi on Coruscant; Kyp Durren, Cilghal, Dorsk 82, and others. Corran Horn, though in actuality a fully trained Jedi Knight, was an X-Wing jockey in Rogue Squadron. He had been away with the slowly forming task force that was to chase after the Cragon battleship, the Threnody, and rescue Ben Skywalker, since his continued capture matched with Luke and Mara’s kidnapping by them was seen as an apparent act of war. But after the "Battle of Wills" all capital ships were called back to Coruscant since the whole incident had created a massive uproar among some of those worlds that had a Jedi mediator on them. Though most acted with outright shock, some had deported all Jedi inhabiting them immediately, fearing this would become a trend. Corran was due to leave in two weeks as part of an escort to protect Leia when she went to several worlds to negotiate readmitting of the Jedi. Then they would be heading for Tatooine where rebellion had broken only two days earlier over water rations. But until then all Corran had was mission simulations and a lot of free time.
"A hole, Corran," Mara said warily. "If Luke is still alive, he couldn’t be here since this place has been scanned up the ying yang for life signs. And since I’m pretty positive he was under here at some point, he had to have found some way out. He didn’t just teleport to some place."
Corran shrugged and started wandering down the hill, picking through the ruble. "Alright. Just thought it would be more productive if we knew what to look for. But why are we bothering with this? If we all agree he went southward, then why are we looking here?"
"Because when they were still searching the place there was a lot of supports and tunnels he could have taken to the lower levels. And most of them didn’t come out at the same place. We could search down there forever and never find him," Han said. "How long have you been living here, anyway?"
"Ha, ha," Corran growled, moving to an overhang.
Ejila Starbust called up from where she knelt near the base of the pile. "Hay! Wouldn’t someone notice if Luke left here? And the hole too?"
"Not really," Cilghal said. "They were just looking for life signs, they wouldn’t have noticed a hole since the falling ruble could have made it naturally. And the place was all but deserted at night."
"I suppose. But if that’s true, then how are we supposed to spot the hole?" Ejila asked. Cilghal thought about it for a second then shrugged.
"How ‘bout you use the Force?" Han suggested, lifting a rock. "Luke could tell something we were looking for was in a certain room without even trying. You should be able to do that if your consciously trying right?"
Mara lifted an elegantly shaped eyebrow. "I wonder what Luke would say if he found out it was you who pointed that out.. Just call someone over if you find a hole, Han."
They picked through mound after mound of ferocrete for the better part of two hours, finding several holes that no one thought were it. Then, just as even Mara was beginning to wonder at the continued usefulness of this exercise, Han found Luke’s way out.
"Here’s one! And, uh, I’m pretty sure this is it," he added as Kyp jumped down to his level.
"How would you know?" Kyp asked then stopped when he saw what Han had noticed earlier.
"There’s blood all around it," Han said needlessly. "And it looks pretty much like it’s human." They all gathered around; they were positive they knew who had come out of it. Blood smeared into the shapes of handprints rimmed the entrance, with footprints and indistinguishable marks to boot. And, conveniently, it led to one to the passageways still in place. "I guess we start looking there."

Unanswered Questions

Chapter II

Luke stumbled down the offshoot of the dark and musty passageway he had been slowly inching along since well before sunrise. He tripped for the last time and fell hard on his knees, clutching his skull even harder then he had before. He gasped deeply, trying to clear the deep pain laced fog that threatened to overwhelm him as it had at the hanger. Every part of his mind screamed in agony. He wanted to use the Force to heal himself but every time he tried to reach out the pain worsened and stayed that way. He sobbed and pulled his body upright against the wall. He had to keep going, escape the pain and anguish that refused to abate. He started to inch his way forward again, using the wall to support his failing body. But he found his way blocked by an increasingly recurrent specter.
Cyan sat there, once again the innocent baby with the glittering crystalline eyes. His bronze scales sparkled dully as they slid over his small, lithe body. His ebony horns were just barely grown; his ridge flat against his neck. He crooned, the sound an embodiment of his grieving expression.
"Stop it. Stop it. Go away. You’re not here, you’re gone. Gone . . ." Luke moaned and closed his eyes against the sight. When he opened them again the dragon was no longer there. He sighed in relief and started walking again. He didn’t know where he was going, nor did he care anymore. He just knew he had to get away. As far away as his exhausted body would carry him. He could not see very well, the light was less than dime and he couldn’t focus his attention on anything. He stumbled again and again until finally when he looked up, all he saw was a dead end. A dead end. He let his head sag back to the soiled floor, curling into a fetal position. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping death would come and end this pain, but then opened them again on impulse. What he saw made him close them again and curl into a tighter ball.
"You have to go back, Luke," Cyan’s soothing voice cooed. "You can’t run forever. Please go back. This will all end sooner if you do. Please, please listen to me!" Luke thought he felt the brush of Cyan’s palm on his damp cheek, soft as a warm memory.
A crash and someone crying out disrupted the moment. Luke opened his eyes and saw a Bothen dressed in clothes too expensive to be owned by a resident of the lower level they were on. He crashed into a waist disposal unit and fell to the ground, whimpering and pleading for his existence. Luke pulled himself to his feet again, unnoticed in the dark corner. The Jedi was so intrigued by the Bothen’s appearance, he didn’t even realize Cyan had disappeared again.
Suddenly the Bothen let out a shriek of fear when something in the passageway caught his attention. A creature entered dressed clothes that were baggy and black, so much so as to completely conceal sex and species. Luke crept forward, knowing even without the Force the creature in black would refuse the Bothen’s please for his life. Luke felt his natural tendency to help kick in when he realized he was defenseless. Bereft of the Force or a weapon, he would be easy pray.
So what? What did I care if I live or die. The same fate waits for me on both sides. He saw a paracrete poll sticking out of a pile of refuse he had previously knocked over. He moved slowly towards it.
The assassin moved across the debris littered floor like a wraith, smooth and soundless. It pulled a stylized dagger from some hidden location and held it in an accustomed, balanced grip. It brought its hand back as if to slice the blade through the cowering Bothen’s throat.
Luke darted forward, surprising himself with the level of agility he still seemed to possess. He grabbed the poll and swung it at the stunned assassin. Even caught off guard, the creature moved fast. It ducked out of the way then grabbed the poll as it swung past, yanking hard. Luke went crashing to ground again. He kicked out and caught the assassin in the leg. The creature stumbled; but stayed up, the distraction was just enough time for Luke to force his aching body to its feet. The assassin took a swipe with the blade, slicing through Luke’s shirtsleeve and meeting with flesh. Luke gasped in pain and used the Force to push the assassin away from him. The creature slammed into the wall, at the same time Luke clutched his head, the pain cause by that simple maneuver threatening to overwhelm him.
"Run!" he gasped at the stunned Bothen. He needn’t have said it for the Bothen had already started running for his life. Luke’s vision began to dim, and he couldn’t focus enough to stay standing, the coordination that required seemed to have left him. The floor seemed to be rising up to meet him halfway, and then he blacked out, the last thing he remembered was lying on his back with the assassin looking down on him from above.

"Maybe he didn’t go this way. Maybe it was one of the other passages," Ejila suggested.
"No," Mara said with a firm shake of her head. "He came this way, I’m sure of it." They had stopped for what seemed to be the millionth time at a cross section of tunnels that spidered through the level. As before Mara would pace back and forth, looking at each passageway, until she found one that felt "right". But this had taken an increasingly longer and longer amount of time the deeper they went.
And Corran was getting more and more irritable the deeper they went too. He had been a member of CorSec, a security force on Correlia before being chased out when the Diktat was given control. He knew how to use the Force to track someone down but as of yet they hadn’t found a single physical clue that Luke had gone this way and that rankled him. But unfortunately as stubborn as he was, Mara was far stubborner. So they kept on going, down, down into the vary bowels of Coruscant.
"Do you have any idea how close he is?" Corran asked. "How off the pace are we?"
A small crease appeared between her brows as Mara thought about it for a moment. "He’s…he’s not far."
"Oh that helps," Corran muttered.
"You know, you didn’t have to come if you didn’t want to," Han growled, getting fed up. "And you can go back anytime you want."
Corran shrugged. "I want to help. But we have no evidence beyond the Force, and even though Wedge will go for that, not everyone over my head will. I got sims in two hours and it’s gonna take me an hour just to get back to the base."
"Then I’ll yell at anyone who tries to get you in trouble for it," Mara told him. "You can’t get in trouble for doing a favor for a Jedi Master."
"That’s what I’m hoping."
"Alright, stop your complaining then. I think he went this way," Mara pointed in a direction and they started down it. They walked. And they walked. And then they walked some more. They chatted, made some suggestions, but nothing happened. They met very few people; most creatures that lived on these levels feared strangers. On their way they past a terrified Bothen. He babbled something about a monster coming after him and a strange man who came out of no where to help him. The group exchanged glances (Corran just made a comment about the Bothen’s obvious over dose on the spice) and the Bothen snarled and took off. They had wandered by an offshoot of the main passageway, one of many they had past though the search, when Mara suddenly stopped. She backed up and looked down it. Thinking to herself.
"What is it?" Cilghal asked. "Did Luke go down there?"
"He couldn’t have," Corran said, "It’s a dead end."
Mara shook her head. "No, no he was here. For a little while. But something…something happened."
"Look," Han said, reaching down to pick up a paracrete poll. There were bloody handprints all over the base.
"There was a fight here," Corran said, moving in and inspecting the area. "There’s stuff knocked over, some blood on the wall and on the ground right here. And look, some fresh footprints in the-uh whatever that stuff is on the floor right there."
"Looks like you got your hard evidence, kid," Han commented. "Well, obviously Luke ain’t in as bad condition as we all thought. He must have survived the fight."
Jenab Rohib, a quiet student who made few comments but those he did make were usually good, spoke up. "But wouldn’t his body just disappear if he was killed? Like all the other Masters?"
"His clothes don’t disappear. I don’t see them anywhere," Ejila put in.
"She’s right. And he’s not dead. I’d notice," Mara commented. Then her face fell. "He’s not here, he gone. We won’t find him down here anymore. We lost our chance."
"Where did he go?" Dorsk 82 asked.
"I don’t know."

——————————————

"Yes of course I understand your concerns but this is an isolated incident. Master Skywalker’s . . . explosion as you call it was a result of a combination of problems he was involved in. He has been in stress inducing situations all throughout his life and never needed counseling before. This was as much a surprise to his close friends and family as it was to anyone."
"Was that supposed to reassure me President?" the high pitched, scratchy voice of Wallatalla’s Viceroy asked. "Because all it said to me is you have no warning and no way to predict when this will happen!"
Leia Organa Solo sighed in exasperation. She had spent the better part of two days soothing over agitated representatives from planets spread throughout the New Republic and even a few in the Empire. Wasn’t she under enough stress? Her brother just died a horrible death, she should be in morning no negotiations. But no, they had to hear it from her, the President of the New Republic, who also happened to be a Jedi as well.
She tried again. "Viceroy, if a senator were to suddenly have a psychotic break down, would you suddenly start worrying that all the other senators would start having psychotic break downs?"
"Well, no. Of course I wouldn’t. But I don’t see—"
"Then why should it make any difference here?" Leia demanded. "Master Skywalker’s break down was caused by events that would have destroyed an average person, but since they are unordinary in occurrence and random in order I do not think we have to worry about it happening to all the Jedi."
The Viceroy thought about it for a second then growled in grudging acceptance. "When you put it that way it makes me sound stupid. I suppose that’s the best reassurance I’ll be getting. Fine, but if anything happens, I’m holding you responsible." He stood and Leia rose with him, extending her hand. He looked at it, curled his lip, and swiftly exited Leia’s office. She sank down in her self-conforming chair again, rubbing her temples.
"One more down, who knows how many to go," she commented, a slight tremor slipping into her voice.
"Fifty Seven," C-3PO, her golden protocol droid informed her from behind the chair. "Or fifty six if two headed persons only count as one."
Leia laughed lightly, resisting the urge to ask Threepio which species he was referring to since she knew she would get a rather large list of two headed entities along with their cultural differences and how they divided personalities. She sat back in her chair and rubbed her eyes wearily, picking up a data card containing the profile on the next representative she would be seeing.
"Are you feeling alright, Mistress Leia?" Threepio asked.
"Yes," Leia smiled forcibly again and gave a short laugh, "yes, I’m fine. Just tired. I-I haven’t been getting much sleep since…" Her voice trailed off and she closed her eyes and leaned her head back, taking a deep, calming breath. Not sleeping well wasn’t quite correct. More like she couldn’t sleep for the nightmares that plagued her. "Who’s next, Threepio?"
"Emissary Gi Si of Vecoom VIII," Threepio said after a moment’s pause to consult his memory banks. "His world is still functioning under the duel Jedi guardian probation period since they are still recovering from a civil war with their fourth moon. Though, at the moment I do believe the two Jedi assigned there have been . . . deported."
"It’s Gi Si? Great, he probably had a fit large enough to knock his dorsal fin off. Ugh, you know what, Threepio? I’m too tired to put up with him right now. I’m taking a break," Leia said, rising and striding from the room.
Threepio seemed quite surprised be her abrupt departure and called just before the door to her office slid closed behind her, "Is that what I should tell the Emissary?"
Leia walked swiftly down the hall, ignoring the sideways glances her long stride and angry expression attracted. She reached a deserted hallway and headed for a beverage dispenser. She pressed her thumb onto the scanner and grabbed the cylindrical container that popped out. Instead of drinking it, she placed the cool metal against her forehead and leaned against the wall. The dreams…before Luke died, it was just a nagging feeling of dread. But since then, since that horrible, horrible day, her nights were disrupted with inconsequential nightmares that refused to reveal their intent except for two nonsensical images. A lone, vaguely familiar figure stumbling through an arctic tundra, and a single flash of sapphire scales and a black empty eye staring out at her with smoldering anger.
"Visions often appear masked in dreams, usually interpreted as nightmares," Luke had once said too her in one of her brief lessons on the Force. Leia shuddered, opening the container and taking a long swallow. Why was she the one who had to meet with all these people? She had other things to do with her time, like grieve, like meditate to try and understand what was happening. How had things gone wrong? It wasn’t her fault.
"Of course not," she said out loud, pacing in front of the dispenser now. "I though of everything. It should have worked! I consulted everyone I could think of without rising suspicion, I knew Luke would never agree to it. And the others would have told him." Realizing that someone could walk around the corner at any moment, she stopped talking and sat on a cushioned bench, resting her chin in her hands and thinking. Perhaps something had gone wrong with the carbon freeze. Perhaps it hadn’t happened fast enough and Cyan was able to do something to Luke before he was frozen. Well, it was a mot point now. Cyan was gone from their lives and Luke was gone forever. Had he really hated her so much that he couldn’t come back to say good-by? Sure once he was on the other side he would have to see the truth!
Unless she was wrong all along.
But no, she was sure of her decision. And there was no going back on it now, anyway. She sighed in frustration and took another swig out of the container. It hadn’t helped her day when Han suddenly called and told her he couldn’t come to lunch since he was helping Mara with something. Mara! Leia grunted. She’d have had Mara arrested if she hadn’t helped save her life. A maintenance droid rolled down the hall, hooting and beeping contentedly to itself. Leia stood and tossed her now empty container into it’s trash disposal unit and went back to her office.
She had fifty seven more people to sooth over, though only fifty six if the two headed person was agreeable.