“Who’s shipping anything out to the back of beyond?” Batten folded her arms, warier than before.
“That’s what we’re going to discover.” Leia smiled with as much confidence as she could muster.
This won her a raised eyebrow. “These people are going to try to shoot us, aren’t they?”
“No!” Leia protested, then caught herself. “I mean, I doubt it. We’ll let them know we’re friends.”
“What if they shoot us before we get to make friends?” Batten shrugged in answer to her own question and began inputting their course. “Guess we’ll have to send some party invites out ahead. Takeoff in ten, Your Highness. The trip shouldn’t take more than a few hours.”
Briefly Leia considered leaving a message for her mother. Of course she couldn’t explain where she was going, much less why, but she could at least tell Breha that she was headed offworld. I could say I was going to pathfinding practice on Gatalenta or Chandrila. Or maybe that I’d be hanging out with some of the other apprentices on Coruscant.
Those were perfectly plausible cover stories Leia didn’t need. In her heart she knew her mother would never even realize she was gone.
Running through the palace corridors, giggling as she went, her mother’s footsteps fast behind her. Looking back to see the queen of Alderaan with her hair down and her dressing gown flowing behind her as she called, “I’m coming to get you!”
“Can’t catch me!” Laughing as she ran even faster, trusting her mother to be no more than a few steps behind.
“Look.” Her father’s voice low in her ear as he cradled her in his lap, pointing at the distant mountain. “That’s Appenza Peak. Your mother climbed that mountain to prove she was ready to become crown princess of Alderaan.”
“All by herself?” Leia not yet able to get into her high bed without 2V’s help, unable to imagine anything so bold as climbing a mountain.
“All by herself.” Bail Organa hugging her tightly, making her feel snug and safe against the world.
Leia forced herself to stop reliving old memories once she realized there was a lump in her throat. Batten was already suspicious of this trip; she’d definitely know something was up if Leia broke down in tears.
Why didn’t it stop hurting? Her parents had shut her out months ago—nearly a year—and that was enough time for her to understand how things were. Still she couldn’t accept it. Her heart refused to acknowledge that anything had changed; it just kept aching for people who no longer answered when she called. The pain never lessened. Even worse, whenever she was hurting, her first instinct was to turn to her mother and father. The wound stayed fresh. Maybe it always would.
“Your Highness?” Ress Batten spoke from the cockpit, so gently that Leia wondered if her sadness had shown on her face. “We’re about to come out of hyperspace.”
“Ready.” Leia ran her hair over her braids and tucked in one escaped lock of hair. She wanted to be prepared for anything, whether that meant looking her best or…
After a few long seconds, she took a blaster from the locker and holstered it to her hip.
Batten glanced over her shoulder. “So you’re not putting my confidence in those party invitations.”
“We’ll be fine,” Leia promised, in hopes she wasn’t lying. “I’m just—cautious.”
“Sorry, Your Highness, but cautious is one thing you’re not.” Batten had a smile on her oval face. “Brace yourself in three, two, one.”
The electric-blue waves of hyperspace vanished, replaced by an unfamiliar starfield and the white expanse of Crait. A small planet, it was as desolate as its out-of-the-way location implied. A thick crust of salt covered nearly the entire surface, though here and there Leia could spot the planet’s vivid red soil showing through, and narrow carved lines amid the white that hinted at canyons and deeply sunken waterways.
“I’m not picking up any space traffic signals,” Batten said, frowning as she stared at the controls. “No orbital stations, no spaceports—wait, there it is.” She pointed at a small variance in one signal hinting at a tracking signal, so faint that Leia was certain she’d never have spotted it on her own. “We’re being monitored.”
The blaster felt heavier against Leia’s thigh. “Are they sending anyone this way?”
Batten shook her head. “Nobody’s coming after us. I’m not picking up weapons signatures. The tracking signal could be automatic.”
Leia took the jump seat in the cockpit. “Are there any life signs?”
“Some movement in the canyons, possibly aquatic creatures, but on the surface—” Batten’s voice trailed off as she zeroed in on the signal. “We’ve got one tiny scratch of a settlement up here on the northern continent.”
“Then that’s where we’re headed,” Leia said with more confidence than she felt.
As Ress Batten brought the ship down toward the surface, Leia donned her hiking gear—simple white clothes that would blend with the salty landscape, a full utility belt, and a visored cap to protect her from either bright sun or easy visual identification. The holster with her weapon fit just right, though the sensation of having a blaster at her side was one she didn’t want to get used to.
From the outside, she now looked like a woman of action. Inside, her nerves were beginning to get the better of her. It was one thing to want to investigate this potential rebellion against Palpatine’s rule, another to actually walk up to the people responsible and trust them. Even scarier would be asking them to trust her. Anyone taking action against the Empire would be on guard, wouldn’t they?
They haven’t shot us down so far. Besides, you’re here to help.
How, exactly? She couldn’t promise troops or safe harbor on Alderaan. She’d need her parents’ cooperation for that and she no longer had any faith in her ability to persuade them. Whatever a rebel group needed, it probably wasn’t a stray sixteen-year-old girl.
Yet she was a sixteen-year-old girl with access to her share of the royal purse. That money was meant to serve humanitarian purposes, and what could be more humanitarian than pushing back against Palpatine’s rule?
Or maybe they’re not freedom fighters. Maybe they’re just terrorists in training and you’re walking right into their trap—
Leia double-checked her blaster, then tucked it into her long jacket, out of sight. Although she’d never played sabacc, she’d seen enough of it in holovids to know good players kept their best card a secret until the very end.
From the bridge, she heard Ress Batten repeating, “Polestar of Alderaan to any vessel within range, requesting landing clearance on Crait. This is the Polestar of Alderaan, over. Polestar of Alderaan to any ve—stang!”
Leia didn’t ask what the problem was. She just grabbed the nearest safety harness, only an instant before the ship tilted sharply to one side and began to shudder.
“Tractor beam!” Batten shouted. “Weak one, though—for towing cargo, not to capture ships—hang on.”