The Princess And Her Droid

The Princess And Her Droid is a Short Story written by Jamie141 that is set a few years before the famous battle of Yavin and is a standalone inclusion to the saga. It follows the story of Princess Leia Organa and her family during a personal crisis as an unknown threat strikes from the darkness and tries to assassinate the entire family during a gathered celebration in their own home. A crisis that puts Leia herself and her family's droid, R2-D2, in the dangerous position of being the only ones who can stop the threat from achieving its objective.

## Chapters

* One
* Two
* Three
* Four
* Five
* Six
* Seven

Alderaan was one famous for being one of the most beautiful planets in the entire galaxy. One of the most peaceful as well and as a teenaged Leia Organa sat on her balcony, her knees up to her chest and staring out to the city below her from her family's tower, Leia could see, as she always did when experiencing this view, why it was famous for such things.

"Of course I would find you up here" came a voice from behind her which caused Leia to turn just in time to see her adopted sister, Winter, making her way into Leia's bedroom and moving over to join her at the balcony.

"Well when your father wants to keep you safe in your bedroom, not much else to do but enjoy the view."

This caused a chuckle to escape from Winter as she sat on the edge of the balcony, swinging her legs over the edge and swaying them while she shook her head, gesturing back to the bedroom behind them "not read one of many books your father has given you?" she teased, earning a roll eye from Leia.

"If I was to read any more of those books I would wind up driving myself crazy. No. I need fresh air" Leia told her sister, Winter parting her lips and about to give another witty remark before the voice, a more robotic one, called out to them both from the entrance of Leia's room.

"Oh my goodness, please do watch yourself on the edge Miss Organa. Your father would scrap me for parts if he had heard you took a fall" C-3PO called out as he walked through the room at the quickest pace that he could, followed by his faithful companion in R2-D2 who offered a few beeps while Leia and Winter both rolled their eyes and stood up, moving away from the ledge in order to greet their droid servant.

"Relax -3PO, it's not like we're dancing on it. After years of doing this i'm sure we can handle ourselves" Winter told him, earning a appreciative look from Leia as C-3PO looked them both over for a moment before he sighed, at least the best he could as a droid, and gestured to the door.

"Ah, well, either way your father requests your presence ma'ams. He seemed to wish to talk to you both before the celebration ball begins later this evening."

"Thank you -3P0, you're excused now" Leia told him, giving him a look that told him to leave which both droids in the room obliged, quickly making their way out of the room and leaving Winter to close the door behind them as she offered a smile to Leia.

"What do you think your father wants you for?"

"He probably wants to remind me to act more like you"

"Oh come on Leia, he-"

Leia raised a hand to silence her sister, a smirk on her face as she gave her a look of doubt "Don't you start. It's fine. My father wants to make sure I don't loose my temper with the other, more snobbish, girls of the court and he has a point, I should learn to deal with them like you do and keep my composure."

"But you aren't, are you?"

"Depends on how they act tonight, doesn't it?"

This exchange caused both of the girls to laugh before Winter delivered a parting hug to her sister and excused herself from the room, about to exit from the room but pausing before she turned to look back at her sister as she held the door open "For the record Leia, the way you think about everything is going to be very useful for your future as a Princess. Just have to learn how to control it more."

Winter then exited from the room quickly after this, leaving Leia to think it over for a moment as she looked at herself in her room's large mirror, the smile fading from her face as she spent a few moments thinking about what her sister had just said.

It was only a few moments however as the smirk soon returned to Leia's face and she exited from her own room herself. Making her way to greet her father in the prepared celebration room as she knew that would be where she would find him.

Winter was right. She didn't have to change.

And she wouldn't.

Although just as she exited from her room, Leia found herself bumping into someone she couldn't have seen as she exited from her room, a groan escaping from both her and the one she had bumped into as Leia raised her eyes to be greeted by a pair of glaring green eyes that looked like they could pierce her soul.

"Apologies, I didn't notice you, I was just coming out of my room is all" Leia said, quickly trying to break the silence between the both of them as Leia was quick to note that the girl she had bumped looked slightly younger than she did and had very unusually red hair, red as if they were flames.

Leia couldn't help but wonder who she was, she had neither seen her around before nor did she look like the normal type of girl to attend the celebrations held in her family's tower.

"Yeah? Well next time watch where you're going" the girl told Leia before brushing herself down briefly and continuing to make her way down the corridor, leaving Leia to glare at her, biting her lip as she urged herself not to make it into a fight as much as she very much wanted to.

Leia knew she could reveal who she was and make the girl come crawling back to her with more apologies than would be said in an entire year but she didn't. The thought never crossed her mind. Instead she took a few deep breaths before continuing her own way down the corridor. She wouldn't want to leave her father waiting too long.

"Now are you absolutely sure that everything will be ready for the 25th Anniversary of the Alderaan Ascendancy Contention? I cannot allow for any type of mistake to be made."

"Yes Prince Organa" came one of the servants voices, earning a sigh from Bail Organa himself as he took a seat on one of the chairs that had been set up, nervously running a hand through his hair. Normally he wouldn't be so worried about the setting of a celebration but with the rumor of a certain person making this event a reason to come visit, Bail had to use the best of his abilities to make sure it was perfect.

These thoughts would soon be interrupted as he spotted his faithful droid servants, R2-D2 and C-3PO, entering into the prepared celebration room which caused Bail to quickly stand up from his seat and make his way over to them, nearly knocking a servant over in the rush before he arrived in front of them both "-3PO, did you have luck finding her?"

"Ah yes Master Organa we did indeed and she is on her way here as we talk" C-3PO told him, earning an approving nod from Bail as he went back to looking around and watching as his servants set things up around the room, the droids remaining in silence for those few moments before R2-D2 broke said silence by beeping a few times, gaining the confused attention of C-3PO who pointed at him accusingly.

"Not right now R2. The Master does not need to hear any of your bamblings right now."

R2-D2 persisted, bringing his beeps to a higher tune which led to C-3PO shaking his head and very hesitantly prodding his master's shoulder, earning the attention of Bail Organa back to them just as C-3PO began to speak "excuse me Master but R2 here says he has something extremely urgent to tell you."

Although this persistence would come at a wrong time as just as C-3PO finished his statement, Bail noticed his wife, Breha, walking into the celebration room which caused Bail to give R2-D2 a gentle pat on the head "not right now little one. I'll make sure to find you both when i'm not occupied" he told them before he quickly made his way over to his wife, leaving C-3PO to tell R2-D2 "I told you so" as they awaited their next commands from anyone.

"How is everything going my love?" Breha asked sweetly as her husband came over to greet her, lowering her head slightly so he could deliver a kiss to her forehead before she smiled up at him, a smile he returned albeit with some nervousness that they both knew he could not hide from her.

"For our normal attendees? Of course. I'm just worried for our...extra visitor" Bail admitted to his wife as he sighed, running another nervous hand through his hair, this time finding his fingers covered in a few loose hairs, a clear sign to both of them that he was heavily stressed which caused Breha to reach up and gently rub her husband's cheek.

"It will be fine."

"But Breha, what if he knows? About us? About what we really do?"

"Bail" Breha said gently but firmly, earning the full focus of her husband as they both stared into each other's eyes before Breha gave him a gentle smile, leaning up on her toes to kiss his lips softly as she muttered "It will be fine. I promise."

This reassurement from his wife led to Bail taking a few breaths to calm himself, noticing a few of their servants were looking worriedly in their direction until Breha gave them all a wave to signal for them to get back to work as Bail offered his wife another, more calm and confident, smile.

"You're right. I'm more paranoid than I should allow myself to be."

"Exactly. Now, have you yet talked to our wonderful daughter Leia?"

"No. I sent -3PO and R2 to fetch her for me so i've been waiting for her to arrive."

This response led to silence from Breha for a few moments, Bail able to clearly tell she was thinking about something but before he could ask her what was wrong, she looked up to him and offered a smile "Tell her that she doesn't have to attend. I know how much she doesn't like to attend occasions such as this. I wouldn't want to force her."

Bail paused for a moment, debating this over before he gave her a nod "I shall let her know" he told her, his wife's smile growing a bit before she gave his cheek one more gentle stroke with her hand before she walked over to talk with a group of servants, leaving Bail on his own just as Leia herself finally arrived into the room.

"Ah! There is my beautiful daughter" Bail said with a more happier tone, greeted with a soft smile from Leia as Bail wrapped one of his arms over her shoulders and guided her towards the celebration room's balcony so they would be completely alone from the other servants, quickly sending off a bad signal in Leia's mind.

"I'm not going to skip around the bush Leia, we both know why i've called for you."

"Mhm. You want me to not teach one of the snobs a lesson this time."

"Leia..." Bail said warningly, earning a soft smile from his daughter as he sighed, leaning over the edge of the balcony and thinking for a few moments, Leia's smile quickly disappearing from her face. She had only meant it as a tease and typically her father would realize this.

Something was different this time. Something had his mind captured.

"Your mother wanted me to tell you that you won't have to attend the celebration tonight. We both know it isn't your type of place to be so we wanted to give you the option to stay away. If you so wished."

Leia thought this over as she leaned against the balcony railing and his daughter's silence quickly told Bail he had offended her but before he could attempt to make the offer sound like it wasn't his way of telling her to not be around, she offered him a smile that he could clearly tell was her faking emotion.

"She's right, I don't like to attend such things. Send her my thanks please father" Leia told him, hurt clearly in her voice as he could tell from her face she felt like she had just been kicked into a corner to hide away but as Bail opened his mouth to try and apologize, she excused herself and quickly exited from the balcony, leaving Bail on his own to watch as the city beneath him buzzed with excitement.

"I'm sorry Leia. You deserve so much better than what I can offer you."

"And I thank you all for coming to attend this celebration tonight. Welcome yourself to the beverages prepared and enjoy the rest of your night" Bail told everyone amongst the crowd at the end of his speech, earning claps from all around the room as he gave a bow before exiting from the small stage, joining his wife at the side and taking the drink she offered him, quickly taking a sip from it.

"You handled that perfectly my love" Breha told him with a soft smile, a smile that he returned as the two of them politely made their way through the crowd of celebration attendees and servants to get themselves some free space at one of the room's corners.

"So far. HE has yet to make an attendance" Bail pointed out, earning a sigh from his wife who, in response, looked around the room and saw that he was indeed correct. The surprise visitor of this evening had yet to appear and that was making her both confused and worried.

However she couldn't allow her husband to see those feelings. He was panicked enough as it is without him seeing that she too was beginning to panic.

"And when he does arrive, everything will go just as perfectly. It has no reason to go otherwise" Breha told him, sharing a look with her husband that silently told him to remain calm before the pair were greeted by their second daughter, Winter, who offered them both a smile as well as a nod.

"A wonderful speech father."

"Thank you very much Winter, I do try my best."

"Would either of you know where Leia is?" Winter asked with a curious tilt of her head, earning a shared glance between both of her adoptive parents before Bail offered her a polite smile.

"We told her that she wouldn't have to attend the celebration tonight. We can only assume that she chose not to in the end."

Winter clearly processed this bit of information for a moment before she offered her adoptive parents another smile "may I be excused to go looking for her?" to which she was replied with by the both of them nodding. However just as Winter was turning to make her exit from the crowd, she nearly bumped into a man who had clearly come over to greet the family.

"Careful Leia, wouldn't want to knock you over" the man's voice spoke in between his chuckles and as Winter raised her eyes to look up at him, she found her suspicious on who it was to be true. Jahan Cross.

"It is Winter, sir."

"Ah, Winter. Yes, sorry, I should have realized beforehand. Leia would never be as polite and respectable" Jahan said with a smile that someone would imagine on the nicest man but Jahan, to anyone who knew him properly, knew this was the complete opposite as he stood to the side, allowing her to pass before he turned his attention to the parents and offered his hand to them both.

"Long time no see Jahan. Three years since you were here is it?" Bail greeted him, doing his best to ignore his previous statement about his daughter as the two men shook hands before Jahan then turned his attention to Breha, taking her offered hand and gently lifting it up to deliver it a kiss while Bail gave a nod to Winter, silently requesting for her to not make a bigger deal out of it while Jahan seemed to be distracted enough not to notice.

"You would be correct. I see the pair of you have only got better, hmm?" he said, doing his best to be polite and earning fake chuckles out of both Queen and Prince while Winter excused herself silently, continuing her way to the room's exit "In fact I'm pretty sure this room of yours looks much better than I remember it to be and i'm sure it isn't just the decorations for celebration."

"Yes, in fact we got new wallpaper recently. Custom made by only the best to offer on Dantooine" Breha told him, offering a fake smile which he returned after he had spent some time looking around at said wallpaper, seemingly judging it before the voice of C-3PO interrupted what Jahan was to say next.

"Excuse me Prince Organa but R2 persists that the message he has for you is urgent and should be revealed to you in private" C-3PO said from beside the three humans, each of the three humans turning their heads to look at C-3PO who stood there rather nervous for a droid.

"And if this message of his is so important then where is he?" Bail asked C-3PO in response, the droid turning around with a confused expression as he only now realized this his usual companion wasn't present with them.

"Heh, droids huh? I swear some of them need teaching the most basic abilities" Jahan mocked but both Bail and Breha ignored him as Breha leaned herself on her toes to kiss her husband's cheek.

"You stay here love. I'll go and see what all of this is about" Breha told him, earning a nod from Bail before she walked away, accompanied by C-3PO who began ranting about how he could've sworn R2 was with him and how he is probably going off and causing trouble, leaving Bail and Jahan alone and in silence for a few moments before Jahan interrupted that said silence.

"Now Bail... my old friend... may I make a request for us to have a private conversation on the balcony at one point tonight?"

"Of course...why not now?"

"Ah, I think you'll be a bit too preoccupied to deal with my silly requests for the moment" Jahan told him, confusion spreading between both the Queen and the Prince but before either of them could ask him what he meant, the room's large entrance doors opened up, earning the attention of every single person in the room as the special guest that both Bail and Breha had been anticipating finally arrived.

The Emperor, Sheev Palpatine, himself.

Leia had began to regret her choice to not attend the celebration. She was boring herself too much by remaining in her room in order to avoid contact with anyone that had arrived for the celebration. At least if she had attended said celebration she would have the snobbish girls to "entertain" her.

Although that "entertainment" would very likely have gotten her in trouble before the end of the night.

"Leia? You in here?" Winter's voice came from the other side of her bedroom door, the door soon after opening revealing Winter's head to be poking through, scanning the room until her eyes laid on Leia who remained sitting back on her chair, a smile then coming to Winter's face as she entered the room and closed the door behind her.

"Winter? I thought you'd be attending the celebration. Making appearances and all that."

"Heh, I was but I saw that you hadn't attended so I wanted to make sure you were okay" Winter told her honestly, coming to join her by taking the seat next to her, her eyes held on Leia the entire time while Leia let out a sigh and leaned her head back on her chair, closing her eyes.

"Yeah, my father said that I was allowed to not attend so...here I am...not attending."

This statement brought a sigh out of Winter who looked over the room for a moment before she stood from her chair "come on" Winter said to her, holding out a hand which Leia took with a confused expression before Winter practically dragged her through the room and brought her to stand in front of her large mirror before she asked Leia a question.

"What do you see?"

"...Me?"

"Look harder."

A few moments passed as Leia looked at herself in the mirror, unable to get over her confusion until she finally sighed and gave a shrug "I still don't see anything else other than me and you standing here."

"Do you want to know what I see?"

"I guess?"

At this, Winter smiled softly as she lowered her head to lay it on Leia's shoulder "I see a strong woman who refuses to be what everyone around her wants to be. A woman who, one day, will be a strong leader and be known around the Galaxy as not just an idol but someone to be remembered until all of the stars in the Galaxy disappear."

Leia scoffed at this, turning her head to give Winter a look of doubt but when she saw the serious look on Winter's face she decided to amuse her friend and smirked at their reflections in the mirror "and what will you be? The Queen by my side and does the politics as I try my best not to cause fights?"

Getting the feeling that she was being mocked, Winter gave her sister a playful glare but just as she was opening her mouth to give Leia a response there was a very low but noticeable knock on Leia's bedroom door, earning the attention of both girls who shared a look before moving towards it.

Reaching the door, Winter opened it up which caused the two sisters to be greeted by the sight of R2-D2 who looked up at the pair of them, letting out multiple strings of slightly panicked beeps while Leia just calmly raised an eyebrow and looked to her sister for help "do you, ah, understand him?"

"I can try as I did take some lessons in it with Sabe but it would be much handier if his golden friend was around...wonder why he is on his own anyway" Winter said quietly, listening to R2's beeps as she responded although Leia could quickly guess from the expression on Winter's face that she was having no luck understanding him.

However just as Leia was about to suggest going to find the second droid, Leia watched as Winter's eyes widened with shock before looking at Leia with a panicked expression "Leia, he's rambling on about a plot. A plot to kill our father."

It took a few moments, longer than it had Winter, for this to register in Leia's mind but once it did register an equally shocked expression appeared on Leia's face as she looked between Winter and R2 "We have to warn our father. Now."

Winter nodded in agreement to this but before either of them went to move, the glass of Leia's bedroom windows smashed open and a laser struck the wall, barely avoiding touch with Leia's face which caused Winter to quickly dive forward and send them both crashing to the floor in order to take cover from whoever had just took a shot at them.

"Did someone just take a shot at us?!" Leia asked, clearly experiencing shock from nea avoiding being killed but still keeping herself composed enough to crawl for cover behind her bed before she turned her attention to R2 who had taken cover himself "R2, WARN MY FATHER" Leia ordered him, earning a short squeal from the droid before he quickly rushed down the corridor, leaving the two sisters to stay in cover.

"What are we going to do?" Leia then asked, turning her attention to Winter who didn't answer her at first, instead she was looking from between the bed and the floor to look out the window, her eyes looking like they were scanners trying to pick up something in a storm before she made a sudden dive across the room, causing the sniper to take another shot at her but missing again as she made it to cover.

"He's on the building to the left side of the one just opposite of us" Winter called out to Leia, smirking over to her sister in confidence that she had managed to get the sniper's location before she reached up to the wall and clicked the com, a direct link to whoever would currently be on guard duty "there is a sniper on the building left opposite of Leia's bedroom!" Winter yelled through the com before she realized it was just static on the other end.

"Blast, the coms are dead. Leia, you're the one closest to the door. I'm going to divert his fire and you make a run for it. Understand?"

"Winter! R2 can find help!"

"If he doesn't get caught. The coms are dead and I don't think we need to take time to realize why. Now are you ready?" Winter asked, looking directly at Leia who took a moment before giving a nod, getting herself into a better position to make a run for the door and sharing a soft "good luck" smile with Winter before they both made a move.

First Winter went running from one side of the room to the other, gaining the sniper's attention who quickly took a third shot at her, this time hitting her in the arm and causing her to yell in pain at the burning sensation while Leia herself quickly ran for the door, reaching the exit before the sniper could turn its aim towards her.

"Go, warn your father and mother!" Winter commanded of Leia as she crawled into cover, giving Leia a look that told her not to protest which made Leia sigh before she nodded to her friend, silently hoping to the force she would remain okay before she sprinted down the corridor.

She just hoped it wasn't too late for her father.

"Emperor Palpatine. It is good that you have arrived...we heard about your upcoming arrival and done our best to make your trip here worth it" Bail offered to the Emperor as he offered a nervous smile, the Emperor himself looking Bail over before offering his hand to shake, a gesture Bail done worriedly.

"Well I hope you haven't been working too hard. I've only come to visit. Tonight, I am a guest. Not an Emperor" Palpatine said with a smirk, something that Bail quickly figured was supposed to be welcoming but instead came across extremely fearsome to the point Bail was lost of what to say next, fortunately for him the Emperor realizing Jahan's presence meant he didn't need to.

"Ah Jahan Cross. I didn't realize you would be present" the Emperor observed, sharing a handshake with Jahan, this time the handshake being much confident between the two before the Emperor turned his attention back to Bail "has he told you yet? Jahan here recently passed the imperial academy with flying colors. He's now one of our best intelligence officers."

This news caused a shiver to run through Bail's spine. He wouldn't say that he had known Jahan very closely personally but Jahan used to be one of the very first Bail could call upon for more private and dangerous matters. Hearing news of him being one of the Empire's intelligence officers sent warning signals throughout Bail. He knew that this wouldn't mean well for him or his family.

"Seems you have poor Bail here tongue-tied” Jahan commented to the Emperor so casually as he sent a grin Bail’s way, as if he was silently warning Bail to do nothing to cross the line “an understandable reaction, being in the presence of someone so high and powerful.”

“Yes, ah, if you’ll excuse me, I have other guests who must be attended too” Bail tried to say but as he made a move to exit, Jahan reached and grabbed his arm, holding him back in their conversation.

“Actually Bail, we have something to discuss, me and you, in private” Jahan told him in a polite tone but Bail couldn’t help but feel threatened and as he looked down to Jahan’s waist, it was at that moment that he saw there was a blaster pistol hidden under his cloak “as friends.”

Before Bail could offer any type of response, the sound of a droid squealing in the highest pitch it could was heard just moments before R2 came slamming through the room’s doors, spinning out of control, as he imitated a warning squeal, causing confusion among onlookers while Jahan used this moment to pull out his blaster pistol and point it towards Bail.

“I’m sorry I have to do this Bail but you leave me no choice!” Jahan yelled, shrieks escaping from the onlookers as they all quickly made their attempts to exit from the room before the blaster pistol fired, Bail himself quickly moving to defend himself, grabbing onto the blaster pistol and changing its direction to be pointing over his shoulder just in time as it was fired.

The Emperor himself just stood to the side, watching with clear interest as the two men began to battle it out over the blaster pistol, pushing and pulling each other in all different directions as R2 recovered from his spinning and saw Bail in danger which caused him to surge forward, bumping into Jahan and sending him to the ground just as the latter had managed to hold Bail at gunpoint again.

“You bantha fodder of a droid” Jahan cursed to R2, turning his attention from Bail to the droid who had knocked him off balance only momentarily in an attempt to end the droid for good but it turned out to be a mistake for him as Bail quickly used this as an opportunity to punch Jahan before forcefully taking the blaster pistol from his hands, now holding him at gunpoint.

Silence fell into the room as Bail made sure to keep himself a safe distance away from Jahan as he held him at the end of the blaster pistol, R2 at Bail’s side while Jahan himself held up his hands in a defensive stance and the Emperor watched eagerly before he muttered two words “do it.”

This took both men off guard as they looked to the Emperor who just continued to grin wickedly as he looked between the two of them “show Jahan what happens to traitors of the Galactic Empire. Shoot him down and prove you still remain loyal to your Emperor.”

Bail hadn’t thought this far ahead, he just wanted to survive. Keep his family safe. We’re his family safe? He couldn’t think about that right now. Now he realized why the Emperor had intended, whether Jahan had worked it out or not. One of them were not walking out of this room tonight. Either Jahan killed him and the Emperor found a replacement or Bail killed Jahan and was allowed to “remain loyal” to the Galactic Empire a while longer.

The Emperor could see the hesitation in Bail while Jahan still remained in shock, only now realizing he was just a used tool ready to be disposed in the Emperor’s eyes as the latter moved closer to Bail, force lightning sparking along his finger tips very slightly, so slightly that most wouldn’t even notice it “are you loyal to the Galactic Empire?”

Bail had no choice.

Before Jahan could offer any resistance to what was going on, Bail had fired, shooting a hole straight through Jahan’s chest and sending him to the ground, the Emperor excitedly clapping his hands as he nodded repeatedly “Good, good. You remain loyal to your Emperor but it is a shame that this loyalty needed to be proven in such...situations, hmm?”

For a moment Bail remained silent as he looked to the corpse of Jahan, thinking over what had just happened before he slowly lowered both the blaster pistol and his head to point towards the ground “it is indeed my Emperor.”

The Emperor nodded again before he made his way towards the exit “indeed. Let us hope your loyalty is never questioned again…” the Emperor said warningly as he reached the door and exited from the room.

Leaving Bail and R2 together with the corpse of Jahan in an otherwise empty room.

“So R2 hasn’t told you anything?” Breha asked her golden droid companion out of curiosity as they walked down the corridor, the former following the latter to where he presumed R2 was waiting for them, unaware of the current events going on.

“Not at all Queen Organa. He just said it was urgent. He did request for Prince Organa’s presence personally but i’m sure he will relay the message to you. He should but who knows with him these days, sometimes I feel like he has gone completely insane, I-” C-3PO went on as the two of them made their way around the next corner but he was soon interrupted when the pair of them came face to face with a blaster rifle pointed straight at the pair of them.

“No.Sudden.Moves” the blaster rifle owner warned as he kept it focused on the two of them, both Breha and C-3PO too shocked to have any reaction other than surprised as he kept them in range of shooting if needed “to keep this short. I am a Bounty Hunter who has been paid to kidnap you. However, if you resist, I am allowed to kill you. Would prove the point either way.”

“And what point is that?” Breha asked, regaining some of her senses as she stared down the Bounty Hunter before her, barely able to see his face through the turban that was covering it “I’ll have you know I am the Queen here and this will not stand.”

“Oh i’m sure it will Madam. You see, the Emperor himself has hired me to be in this position with you right now. Don’t really know what you did, nor do I care, but it seems he has a point to make to your husband to not mess with his business. Now, either you are going to come along silently or I’m going to be killing you both and dragging your corpses to your husband. Your choice.”

Breha didn’t like being threatened in her own home but as she looked between the Bounty Hunter and his blaster rifle, she knew she had no choice so she held back any resistance she had and gave in, placing her hands behind her head to show she was giving herself up which caused the Bounty Hunter to grin as he used his finger to open up a communications line “This is Dengar, i’ve got the Queen and some golden droid. Advise on my next move?”

“Deal with them both. We no longer have the time to deal with them in any other way” came the voice from the other end of the communications line before it was cut, leaving Dengar in silence for a moment before he shrugged and moved his blaster rifle back up to be pointing at the Queen “well it looks like you don’t get a decision after all. A tough break but business is business.”

Fortunately, due to the Bounty Hunter having his back turned, he failed to see something that Breha could see coming. This thing was her daughter Leia as she had been watching the scene from around the corner and now that she had heard what was about to happen, she quickly surged forward, taking Dengar by surprise and sending the both of them collapsing to the ground while the blaster rifle spun across the ground and out of their reach.

“What the? Who the bantha are you kid?!” Dengar yelled in surprise as he pushed away his attacker before reaching to the blaster pistol at his side, using it to aim and shoot at Breha who barely managed to dodge the shot and move around the corner after her attempt to grab his blaster rifle, C-3PO panicking at the current situation and yelling all sorts of hopes and prayers as he moved as quickly as he could to safety.

Meanwhile Leia quickly recovered from being pushed away and took Dengar by surprise again before he could fire another shot, wrestling for the blaster pistol which was something Breha used as an opportunity to quickly move and grab the blaster rifle, aiming it at Dengar’s head just as he managed to aim his own blaster pistol at Leia “don’t move at all” Breha warned him as she made sure he was fully aware of the blaster rifle behind his head.

“Are you threatening me?!” Dengar yelled out, keeping his blaster pistol trained on Leia but also stupidly turning to face Breha “do you know who I am? I’m DENG-” he began but didn’t get to finish as Leia used his moment of stupidity to curl up her hand into a fist and punch him straight across the face, knocking him out flat with one hit.

It was then, after the Bounty Hunter had been knocked out, that the people present fell into silence, taking in what had happened before mother and daughter smiled to each other and quickly embraced together, hugging tight and letting their gratitude of having made it out alive show while C-3PO remained around the corner, still panicking from the near destruction experience he had just gone through.

Bail stood on his balcony in silence as he stared out at the city below him. It was the morning after his family had been attacked and they were all still a little shaken up but fortunately alive.

Of course news had spread quickly, the Organa family having been attacked probably going to be the main heading for a while to come now. That didn’t matter to Bail however, he wasn’t worried about the news. What he was worried about was the fact it was clear to the Emperor that he was, in some way, a Rebel against the Galactic Empire’s cause.

“So what are we planning to do?” Breha asked, speaking up from beside him as she too looked out to the city below them. Neither of them had gotten any rest last night and they were sure they weren’t going to get good sleep for a while.

“I’m not sure. I refuse to completely abandon the Alliance but...we may have to lay low for a while.”

Breha gave a nod of agreement. They had both already silently came to the conclusion they wouldn’t abandon the Rebel Alliance that was building to fight the Galactic Empire but they also knew they had to be careful, otherwise they’re family wouldn’t be making it through another attack on their home or their family.

“I’m also wondering what we should do about Leia…” Breha admitted out loud, causing confusion for Bail as he turned to look at his wife with a raised eyebrow, Breha letting out a sigh before continuing her thought process “dear husband of mine...she can hold her own and if we told her about the things we are apart of like we did Winter, i’m sure she would want to help.”

“No. We can’t put her at risk like that.”

“You know she’s going to find out one way or another. She’s going to find a way to be apart of it, one way or another. Isn’t it better she finds out from her own parents rather than us further lying to her about the truth?”

Bail let out his own sigh now as he leaned over the balcony, losing himself in thought for a few moments before he bowed his head, letting out a breath of defeat “we’ll...find some way to tell her. You’re right” he told his wife who gave him a soft smile, wrapping her arm around his own and holding herself close to him, husband and wife leaning heads together as they stared off towards Alderaan’s sunrise.

Meanwhile, above the planet of Alderaan, a single Lambda-Class Shuttle was flying further and further away from the planet and was making its way into space while inside the shuttle itself, the Emperor sat on a small throne, looking down to a much younger person with some unusually red hair who also had their head currently bowed in respect.

“So, as I told you to do, you caused panic to both woman from across the street, yes?”

“Yes my Emperor. I sniped one directly to wound them but I made sure to leave no fatal wounds.”

“Good, good. I’m sure the Organa family will not learn from what we taught them today which would be excellent. I do hope that they’re panicked mood will cause them to lead us to more Rebel cells and then we will crush them.”

“Yes my Emperor. It is an excellent plan.”

“And what about the hired Bounty Hunter?”

“Currently serving time in prison. Awaiting for him to be brought back out in order to be ready for his next hiring from you my Emperor. Just as you perfectly planned.”

The obedience of his servant made him smirk as he finally gave her an acknowledging nod “you may stand now, my hand, Mara Jade.”

Mara Jade herself smirked as she stood up from her knelt position and looked up to her Emperor, giving him a nod “thank you, my Emperor. I live to serve as your hand."

This caused the Emperor to let out an evil cackle as, once again, his plans had come to succeed.

## Featured Characters

* Galactic Empire
* Miscellaneous