But not all of us. Just most of us.
“I didn’t want to leave her,” I cried into his shoulder. “I didn’t want to leave her.” The words came out of me like a broken record. VB-35 had been with me through everything. She’d been my first friend and the first person who’d found me crying after Mom died, the first person to tell me it was okay to be a little messy and a little off-kilter. She’d always made sure I ate, and she’d always made sure I never worked too hard and never sat too long in my own feelings alone—
I’d spent so much of my life wondering what it wouldbe like to still have a mom that I hadn’t realized I’d had one the entire time. Veebee had been there for me, and I’d never thanked her.
And now I couldn’t.
I didn’t know how long I’d cried into my dad’s shoulder, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I would have if the comms hadn’t crackled, startling us from our tears.
A soft, melodic voice hummed through the speakers:“This is Sosha Soruna checking in. Ha-ha! I haven’t had a thrill like that in twenty years! May we guide you in to land on Endor,Starfarer?”
We landed in a clearing beside a beautiful dark blue lake. After seeing so much dust and sand over the past few days, even after Alakor, the green grass and lush trees were a welcome sight. I disembarked from the ship with Dad and walked toward Lady Sosha and her two pilots on a beautiful flower-filled patch. I tried to tell him to sit down and let me greet her alone, but he refused.
He was still the captain, after all, and he said, “If I stop moving, that’s when the pain’ll catch up to me.”
“That’s because you’re running on adrenaline, old man.”
“Bah! This is just what it’s like to be alive!” he crowed, and kissed me one more time on the forehead as LadySosha slid out of her fighter ship, tossed off her helmet, and walked to us.
She threw up her arms. “What anexquisitegetaway!” she cried. “Hansifred, you truly outdid yourself. Especially with that injury of yours. Are you sure you should be up and about?”
“Ah, well,” Dad drawled, “it actually wasn’t my flying. It was my daughter’s.”
“What a gift,” the ex-ruler of Naboo complimented, smiling at me. I think she’d already known. “You must be proud.”
“Incredibly,” he replied, his voice breaking a little in the center of the word, as if it didn’t quite encompass how much.
“Thank you for saving us,” I told her. “I was afraid you wouldn’t get the message.”
The older woman shook her head. “You saved yourself, Ardent. We just helped however we could. It was quick thinking to send a message to us from Alakor. I’ll admit that I didn’t expect it. I’m sorry it took us so long to reach you. I was hoping we’d get there before theStarfarer, but hyperspace travel can be unpredictable.”
“At least you arrived,” I pointed out. “I was worried the console was too old to work.”
“It worked well enough. But now we have a problemand, ah, I hope you don’t mind, but I invited a friend to help solve it,” Lady Sosha said, glancing up at the sky as a sleek-looking ship entered the atmosphere.
It was Senator Leia Organa.
She wasn’t a senator anymore. Her insistence that the First Order was a real threat, as well as some other overblown scandals, had made her retreat from New Republic office. But I didn’t know how else to think of her. If not a senator, then…
I wasn’t sure what to call her.
I had seen Leia Organa on holovids before, but much like everyone else, they rarely did her justice. The woman who strode across the green grass of the valley toward theStarfarerhad a rigid spine and kindness hidden in the laughter lines around her eyes. She wore her gray hair in a practical bun behind her head, matching the rest of her uniform—a soft shirt with a utility vest over the top and coarse dark pants tucked into impeccably shined boots. The only signifier that she had once been a princess was the way she held herself, her shoulders back and her chin high, as if not even gravity could defy her.
I had never met a story before, but Leia Organa was everything I had imagined she would be.
Lady Sosha told us that Leia Organa knew what hadhappened—Lady Sosha had called her just after receiving my message—and called the crew down to meet with her. The guests had begun to filter out of the ship, as well, stretching their legs and wandering about the meadow. So Dad gathered everyone to introduce them.
“Senator Organa,” he greeted.
She clasped his hand in a strong shake. “It’s General now,” she said, and surveyed us all. “Right—I believe in getting to the point. It’s apparent that the First Order knows your ship, and most of your faces. You will be in danger because of that. Also,” she added, turning to me, “I have taken the liberty of buying out your and your friend’s warrant. Since it was unlawful to begin with, I had some say. However, I can’t do that again in the future.”
Dad gave a start, turning to me.“Warrant?”
“For a crime she didn’t commit, I assure you,” General Organa said.
Telly stroked her whiskers and muttered, “If the First Order knows our ship now, it’ll be too dangerous for tours in the future.”
“I was thinking about retiring anyway,” Dad mused, to the astonishment of everyone in the group.
