Leia had never had to hire her own ship before, but she figured it couldn’t be that difficult. What she didn’t realize was that she’d never tried to do much of anything without presenting herself as the crown princess of Alderaan, and just how much easier it was for a princess to get things done.
“A freighter?” barked a Loneran pilot. “A little scrap of a thing like you? What are you hauling?”
Leia wondered wildly whether she ought to come up with some kind of cargo to bring along, but how could she do that in time? “Ah, just me.”
The Loneran’s fur raised in consternation. “To Pamarthe, you said?”
“Right.” It was the first heavily trafficked but remote layover she’d been able to think of.
But she’d chosen poorly, because the Loneran said, “So take a passenger ship and save yourself the credits.”
“I need to get there as soon as possible—”
“Passenger ship won’t take you half a day longer.” The Loneran patted her on the head. “Now, hurry along, pup.”
How old does he think I am? Eight? As the Loneran loped away, Leia glanced around the busy spaceport in search of another freighter that looked small enough to be of use to her. Hiring one sounded so easy, but in practice, getting a ship to take off within a brief time span, without questions, could be a challenge. Three pilots had turned her down so far; she’d also hurried after one YT-model ship that had looked promisingly run-down and probably in need of money for repairs, but it took off before she could even reach it.
Spotting another ungainly, patched-together ship across the hangar, Leia headed toward it. As she pushed through the crowd, ducking around a group of Arconas and an enormous, scowling Crolute, she tried to come up with a better cover story. I’m eloping, and my parents are after me! No, because someone would sensibly ask why she was eloping all alone. My grandmother on Pamarthe is incredibly sick, and I need to get to her right away! That might do.
Leia ran up to the ship, then stopped short when she saw not one but two people she knew standing in front of it, arguing.
“Excuse me,” Chassellon Stevis said, “but if I don’t get to the auction on Arkanis in time, someone’s going to snap that speeder up. Do you know how rarely this model comes available?”
“Rarity is an illusion, because every person and object in the galaxy is in some way unique.” Amilyn Holdo—her hair still brilliantly colored, but her clothing a simple traveling coverall—smiled benevolently at him. “Anyway, I’m signed up for the meditation retreat at home, and it’s starting tomorrow.”
Chassellon’s hands stiffened, as if he wanted to physically shake sense into Amilyn. “You could take a passenger ship!”
For her part, Amilyn folded her long arms across her chest and dug in. “I could, if I hadn’t already hired the Moa, which I have. Oh, hi, Leia!”
Leia blurted out, “I need this ship.”
“Oh, come on.” Chassellon stared skyward, perhaps asking for help from gods who didn’t answer. “You’re a bloody princess! You can get whatever ship you want!”
But Amilyn had seen something in Leia that she recognized, maybe from their journey to Ocahont. She brought her hands together, closed her eyes, and said, “All right.”
Chassellon’s eyes widened with anger—Leia didn’t entirely blame him—but then he, too, seemed to glimpse the genuine fear and need she felt. He took a deep breath, adjusted the collar of his violet jacket, and spoke with better grace than she’d known he had. “Fine, then. Take the ship.”
Leia was taking a risk saying even this much, but she had to: “Chassellon, please, don’t tell anyone you saw me.”
Although he clearly didn’t understand why she was asking, he must’ve known it was important. His voice was solemn as he said, “Not a word. Not a soul.” With that he walked off, never glancing back.
“Sometimes people surprise you,” Amilyn said. “By the way, this trip that has to happen in such a hurry—are we talking about things we don’t talk about?”
It took Leia a second to parse that. “Yeah. We are. And I have to go.”
“You mean we have to go.” When Leia stared at her, Amilyn shrugged. “I did hire the ship. Plus I already know all the stuff I can’t know.”
I’m definitely getting better at translating Holdo-speak, because that made complete sense to me. Leia wanted to protest that Amilyn didn’t know everything, and for her own good shouldn’t—but in truth, what Amilyn had already learned was undoubtedly more than enough to destroy her if the Empire found them out. The best way to keep the Empire from finding them out was to leave immediately, without any further arguing.
There were other advantages too. “It might be better if the ship were hired in your name,” Leia admitted.
“So let’s go.” Amilyn pulled Leia up the gangway. “Where are we going, by the way?”
“Pamarthe again.”
Amilyn smiled as easily as if they were on a pleasure cruise and called, “Brill? Slight change of destination! As in, we’re headed to a completely different planet!”
Leia had wished to see one of the famous storms of Pamarthe. Of all her wishes, the Force picked that one to come true, and at the worst possible time.
The Moa set them down in the middle of storms both terrestrial and celestial: while the sea around their port island churned black beneath a darkening sky, the auroras flared pink and green overhead, testifying to solar storms that would disrupt many ships’ sensors.
Why did it have to be Pamarthe? Leia asked herself as she and Amilyn disembarked from their freighter, its Ithorian crewmember waving goodbye as the Moa drew its ramp up again. I could’ve chosen any planet in the galaxy, and I had to pick the one that’s about to shut down all space traffic.
Even Amilyn’s daffy good spirits wilted at the sight of it. “Normally being marooned here would be frightening in a very good way, but right now it’s frightening in a bad way, isn’t it?”
“The worst.” Leia kept imagining her father’s face, which shifted in her mind from moment to moment. First she’d see him warm and loving, as he’d been when they spoke in the library—but then she’d recall his fury at their last meeting. Would that be her final memory of her father? Please, not that. Let me have one more chance to make things right with him. “They say the Pamarthe pilots aren’t scared of anything. Let’s hope that’s true.”
Unfortunately it turned out that Pamarthens were afraid of exactly one thing: losing their beloved ships. After the first three refusals, Leia wanted to hurl herself down and have a tantrum on the ground like a child. She took a few deep breaths, trying to channel her anger in better directions, and then heard Amilyn say, “What about those…giant hairy-frog guys?”
Turning in the direction of Amilyn’s pointing finger, she saw a squat group of creatures waddling onto their low, flat ship, and gasped with new hope. “The Chalhuddans!”
“Who?”