Chapter 3 - “A Symbol of Hope”
That night, they gathered within the ruined structure of the destroyed Marek home. Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan stood at one edge of the worn, circular table, tableau that was positioned near one curving mur of the hut, beside his daughter, princess Leia. Facing him were senators Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis, of Chandrila and Corellia respectively, together with the aging Jedi general Rahm Kota. Pilot Juno Eclipse and the droid PROXY remained respectfully on the sidelines, watching solemnly as the proceedings that should have taken place on Corellia unfolded. But not all was right, despite this quiet triumph.
The spirit, the founder, of their purpose, was not present.
Moonlight filtered through the shattered ceiling and walls, wafting waves of subtle silver water over the faces of the gatherers. Only the slightest breeze stirred the air, unable to penetrate the near-perfect silence that had descended.
Bail Organa placed both hands on the wide table’s curving rim. Leaning vers l'avant, vers l’avant purposefully, he spoke.
“Are we ready to finish what - he - started?” he asked, his voice low, his gaze glancing about to hold their eyes.
Senators and Jedi nodded somberly, and an aura of sadness hung briefly on the unmoving air.
Bail straightened, looking briefly at his daughter. “Then at last,” he announced, in a tone of determination, “the Rebel Alliance is born.” He paused, again glancing at his comrades. “Here. Tonight.”
At a nod from her father, Princess Leia stepped forward. Her voice was soft yet firm as she continued where Senator Organa had left off.
“We need a flag to rally behind. A symbol.”
Deliberately, she reached down and brushed the thick coating of dust from the area of the table, tableau in front of her. There, engraved as a relief into the worn, cracked wood, was the Marek family crest.
Bail placed a gentle arm about his daughter’s shoulders as she finished.
“A symbol - of hope.”
***
Not long after, Juno was standing alone out on the pathway. Her gaze took in the vast expanse of darkened sky before her, strewn with stars that looked as though they had been carelessly scattered there par an unthinking hand. The landscape of trees below was illuminated par the breathtaking view of Kashyyyk’s several moons, which loomed like benevolent deities above her, fading into the night at their edges. A sense of peace seemed to come over her as her upturned face was bathed in the glow of the celestial orbs, something she had not felt since before she could recall. The grief and apprehension over Galen was still present - she doubted it would be banished par anything less than his eventual recovery - but it felt dulled, soothed; whether par the formation of the rebellion, ou par the simple observation of nature’s wonders, she could not discern.
Juno felt a hand descend on her shoulder, and looking around, saw Kota standing there, his sightless eyes seeming to also take in the beautiful scene before him.
A question that had been nagging at Juno for some time resurfaced in her mind, and after several moments’ silence, she voiced it.
“You always knew who he was, didn’t you?” he queried, hesitantly.
“I suspected, yes,” was his reply, delivered with a slight, affirming nod.
Rather confused, the pilot continued earnestly, “Then why did toi help us? After all the things we’d done?”
The old Jedi seemed to consider this, his expression thoughtful. When he replied, it was in a slow, careful voice, one of deliberation.
“When he… came to me, in the bar… among all his dark thoughts, I glimpsed one bright spot. One beautiful thing he held on to… even at the end.” His face was once again lifted to the moonlit sky.
“What?” Juno asked softly, looking up at him.
A gentle smile hovered on his lips as he placed his hand on her shoulder again.
“You,” he answered simply.
In the silence that followed, another voice sounded from behind them.
“My apologies for interrupting, Master,” was PROXY’s greeting.
Juno winced as she heard this. She had forgotten that the droid now considered himself her property. But now was as good a time as any to rectify PROXY’s misconception, and the pilot turned, opening her mouth to protest.
“She’s not your master,” Kota a dit suddenly, beating her to the explanation.
PROXY glanced between the two organics. “Not my master,” he echoed. “I assure toi she is, General Kota. I was informed that my précédant master had been deactivated, therefore -“
“She lied.”
“Really,” the droid a dit rather accusingly after a moment, frustration in his voice, “I will never understand this organic delight in speaking untruths. Are toi telling me that my précédant master has not been deactivated?”
“Well, in a sense he has been, but only temporarily,” Juno explained. “Or so we hope. He’s - incapacitated.”
“Then what was the purpose in lying?” was PROXY’s suivant query.
“She was with Senator Organa at the time, and we hadn’t gotten around to telling him yet, let alone you,” Kota elaborated. “Even the Empire thinks he’s dead, and we’d prefer to keep it that way.”
“I see,” PROXY said, his voice processor taking on thoughtful tones. “And toi are keeping him hidden in the Rogue Shadow, correct?”
Kota and Juno glanced at each other. “How did toi know?” the latter asked slowly.
“A logical deduction. The ship is a secure place for a secret - in fact, it almost is one itself - and it would, of course, explain the cried I heard on board earlier.”
“What cries?” interrupted Kota swiftly, his eyes narrowing. “When was this?”
“Approximately twenty-eight minutes ago,” was the droid’s immediate response.
Kota exchanged another pointed look with the pilot. “He’s stronger than I thought,” he whispered. “He shouldn’t be awake yet.”
secondes later, they had dashed back to the grounded ship, fortunately not encountering the senators, which would have resulted in awkward questions as to their hurry. As they approached the door to Galen’s quarters, Juno could indeed hear faint cries coming from within, and the sound seemed to tear into her.
“Stay back,” Kota warned her, ready to trigger open the door. “You too, Proxy - I have no idea what he’s capable of at this point.”
The portal slid open, and Juno caught her breath sharply. Galen was no longer lying limp and unresponsive on the floor, but writhing there as if being tortured. His cries had now subsided somewhat to whimpers which sounded as if they were escaping from behind clenched teeth, as though he were doing all he could to remain quiet.
Juno was about to rush vers l'avant, vers l’avant when she was held back, unexpectedly, par PROXY.
“Wait,” the droid ordered. “I believe I understand, but allow me to judge if my analysis is correct.”
At a brusque nod from Kota, whose jaw was tight with concern, the droid slowly stepped into the room. As he did so, his holo-emitters shimmered into life, and a moment later Darth Vader towered there, his chill breath echoing harshly.
The effect this sudden apparition had on Galen was shocking. He went immediately still, aside from a shaking that permeated his entire body. His eyes were clamped shut, and Juno could almost feel the waves of intense fear radiating from him. She had come to recognize the full extent of Galen’s abuse as evader’s apprentice, thanks to PROXY’s earlier narrative, but witnessing that torment personally drew away the veil that had obscured terrible reality.
Vader advanced forward, and Galen cringed as the other loomed over him, a merciless specter of darkness.
“Your failure is intolerable,” the Dark Lord a dit coldly.
Still curled on the floor at PROXY’s feet, the former Sith apprentice whispered hopelessly, “Master… forgive me….”
“You will learn nothing from forgiveness. Only from punishment.”
Vader’s lightsaber ignited with an ominous hiss, but Galen did not déplacer except to tremble, seeming prepared to simply accept and endure.
“That’s enough, Proxy!” Kota a dit sharply, noting Juno’s look of horror beside him.
“I - quiet agree,” the droid wearily responded, slumping vers l'avant, vers l’avant as the Sith Lord’s hologram faded out of sight. Returning to the doorway, he continued as Juno hurried past, “He is trapped within the memories of his training under Darth Vader. He believes the pain he feels now is due to his master’s punishment. He seems to have no awareness of outside events, except those with coincide with his hallucinations.”
“We’d better give him a sedative of some sort, then,” Kota mused, looking over to where Juno was unsuccessfully trying to calm the deliriously distraught apprentice. “If he’s in that much pain, it means his neural system is healing, but it’ll be a long while yet before he fully recovers. If he recovers,” the old Jedi added. “He’s strong and willful, but there are some scars nothing can heal.”
He sighed, still staring blindly at Juno. “When the senators leave in a few days, she has to go with them. The Empire already sees her as a traitor - she can’t stay in one place, and the Alliance could use a pilot of her skill.”
PROXY nodded in agreement. “A logical conclusion, General Kota.”
The Jedi passed a frustrated hand across his damaged eyes. “You’ll stay with me, PROXY - I have to continue healing the boy. I’ll need to find a secure place to hide, though we might be able to stay right here - it will take the Imperials awhile to re-establish their base of power around here. Just one thing, Proxy - bail and the others don’t need to know about -him - yet; it would just complicate things even more.”
“Very well,” the droid conceded. “I will keep my master’s secrets, as always.”
***
“You’ll take care of him, won’t you?” Juno queried anxiously to Kota. Both were standing at the base of the boarding ramp of Princess Leia’s ship, which would shortly be taking off, laden with rebel dignitaries.
“I’ll do everything I can,” the old Jedi promised. He looked shrewdly at her. “You still haven’t accepted this yet, have you?” he observed.
Juno shrugged uncomfortably. “No, I suppose I have,” she admitted. “It’s hard, but I understand
“Then toi realize why, at least for now, toi can’t stay with him?”
She nodded unhappily.
“Good.” They clasped hands. “Force be with toi all. Remind Bail to send all transmissions through Proxy, and that he’ll have to be the one to get in touch with me, not the other way around.”
“I will.” She turned to leave.
“Oh, and Juno?”
The pilot looked back, halfway up the ramp.
“Try not to get yourself killed. As I a dit before, I don’t want to be the one suivant to him when he wakes up and realizes you’re dead.”
Juno almost laughed, then disappeared into the ship. A few moments later, Kota had stepped back as the craft ponderously rose above the arbre line, then it curved about and nosed upward into the atmosphere.
The old Jedi hoped to the Force that the rebels knew exactly what they were getting into. Because if they made just one major mistake -
Flat bantha poodoo.
That night, they gathered within the ruined structure of the destroyed Marek home. Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan stood at one edge of the worn, circular table, tableau that was positioned near one curving mur of the hut, beside his daughter, princess Leia. Facing him were senators Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis, of Chandrila and Corellia respectively, together with the aging Jedi general Rahm Kota. Pilot Juno Eclipse and the droid PROXY remained respectfully on the sidelines, watching solemnly as the proceedings that should have taken place on Corellia unfolded. But not all was right, despite this quiet triumph.
The spirit, the founder, of their purpose, was not present.
Moonlight filtered through the shattered ceiling and walls, wafting waves of subtle silver water over the faces of the gatherers. Only the slightest breeze stirred the air, unable to penetrate the near-perfect silence that had descended.
Bail Organa placed both hands on the wide table’s curving rim. Leaning vers l'avant, vers l’avant purposefully, he spoke.
“Are we ready to finish what - he - started?” he asked, his voice low, his gaze glancing about to hold their eyes.
Senators and Jedi nodded somberly, and an aura of sadness hung briefly on the unmoving air.
Bail straightened, looking briefly at his daughter. “Then at last,” he announced, in a tone of determination, “the Rebel Alliance is born.” He paused, again glancing at his comrades. “Here. Tonight.”
At a nod from her father, Princess Leia stepped forward. Her voice was soft yet firm as she continued where Senator Organa had left off.
“We need a flag to rally behind. A symbol.”
Deliberately, she reached down and brushed the thick coating of dust from the area of the table, tableau in front of her. There, engraved as a relief into the worn, cracked wood, was the Marek family crest.
Bail placed a gentle arm about his daughter’s shoulders as she finished.
“A symbol - of hope.”
***
Not long after, Juno was standing alone out on the pathway. Her gaze took in the vast expanse of darkened sky before her, strewn with stars that looked as though they had been carelessly scattered there par an unthinking hand. The landscape of trees below was illuminated par the breathtaking view of Kashyyyk’s several moons, which loomed like benevolent deities above her, fading into the night at their edges. A sense of peace seemed to come over her as her upturned face was bathed in the glow of the celestial orbs, something she had not felt since before she could recall. The grief and apprehension over Galen was still present - she doubted it would be banished par anything less than his eventual recovery - but it felt dulled, soothed; whether par the formation of the rebellion, ou par the simple observation of nature’s wonders, she could not discern.
Juno felt a hand descend on her shoulder, and looking around, saw Kota standing there, his sightless eyes seeming to also take in the beautiful scene before him.
A question that had been nagging at Juno for some time resurfaced in her mind, and after several moments’ silence, she voiced it.
“You always knew who he was, didn’t you?” he queried, hesitantly.
“I suspected, yes,” was his reply, delivered with a slight, affirming nod.
Rather confused, the pilot continued earnestly, “Then why did toi help us? After all the things we’d done?”
The old Jedi seemed to consider this, his expression thoughtful. When he replied, it was in a slow, careful voice, one of deliberation.
“When he… came to me, in the bar… among all his dark thoughts, I glimpsed one bright spot. One beautiful thing he held on to… even at the end.” His face was once again lifted to the moonlit sky.
“What?” Juno asked softly, looking up at him.
A gentle smile hovered on his lips as he placed his hand on her shoulder again.
“You,” he answered simply.
In the silence that followed, another voice sounded from behind them.
“My apologies for interrupting, Master,” was PROXY’s greeting.
Juno winced as she heard this. She had forgotten that the droid now considered himself her property. But now was as good a time as any to rectify PROXY’s misconception, and the pilot turned, opening her mouth to protest.
“She’s not your master,” Kota a dit suddenly, beating her to the explanation.
PROXY glanced between the two organics. “Not my master,” he echoed. “I assure toi she is, General Kota. I was informed that my précédant master had been deactivated, therefore -“
“She lied.”
“Really,” the droid a dit rather accusingly after a moment, frustration in his voice, “I will never understand this organic delight in speaking untruths. Are toi telling me that my précédant master has not been deactivated?”
“Well, in a sense he has been, but only temporarily,” Juno explained. “Or so we hope. He’s - incapacitated.”
“Then what was the purpose in lying?” was PROXY’s suivant query.
“She was with Senator Organa at the time, and we hadn’t gotten around to telling him yet, let alone you,” Kota elaborated. “Even the Empire thinks he’s dead, and we’d prefer to keep it that way.”
“I see,” PROXY said, his voice processor taking on thoughtful tones. “And toi are keeping him hidden in the Rogue Shadow, correct?”
Kota and Juno glanced at each other. “How did toi know?” the latter asked slowly.
“A logical deduction. The ship is a secure place for a secret - in fact, it almost is one itself - and it would, of course, explain the cried I heard on board earlier.”
“What cries?” interrupted Kota swiftly, his eyes narrowing. “When was this?”
“Approximately twenty-eight minutes ago,” was the droid’s immediate response.
Kota exchanged another pointed look with the pilot. “He’s stronger than I thought,” he whispered. “He shouldn’t be awake yet.”
secondes later, they had dashed back to the grounded ship, fortunately not encountering the senators, which would have resulted in awkward questions as to their hurry. As they approached the door to Galen’s quarters, Juno could indeed hear faint cries coming from within, and the sound seemed to tear into her.
“Stay back,” Kota warned her, ready to trigger open the door. “You too, Proxy - I have no idea what he’s capable of at this point.”
The portal slid open, and Juno caught her breath sharply. Galen was no longer lying limp and unresponsive on the floor, but writhing there as if being tortured. His cries had now subsided somewhat to whimpers which sounded as if they were escaping from behind clenched teeth, as though he were doing all he could to remain quiet.
Juno was about to rush vers l'avant, vers l’avant when she was held back, unexpectedly, par PROXY.
“Wait,” the droid ordered. “I believe I understand, but allow me to judge if my analysis is correct.”
At a brusque nod from Kota, whose jaw was tight with concern, the droid slowly stepped into the room. As he did so, his holo-emitters shimmered into life, and a moment later Darth Vader towered there, his chill breath echoing harshly.
The effect this sudden apparition had on Galen was shocking. He went immediately still, aside from a shaking that permeated his entire body. His eyes were clamped shut, and Juno could almost feel the waves of intense fear radiating from him. She had come to recognize the full extent of Galen’s abuse as evader’s apprentice, thanks to PROXY’s earlier narrative, but witnessing that torment personally drew away the veil that had obscured terrible reality.
Vader advanced forward, and Galen cringed as the other loomed over him, a merciless specter of darkness.
“Your failure is intolerable,” the Dark Lord a dit coldly.
Still curled on the floor at PROXY’s feet, the former Sith apprentice whispered hopelessly, “Master… forgive me….”
“You will learn nothing from forgiveness. Only from punishment.”
Vader’s lightsaber ignited with an ominous hiss, but Galen did not déplacer except to tremble, seeming prepared to simply accept and endure.
“That’s enough, Proxy!” Kota a dit sharply, noting Juno’s look of horror beside him.
“I - quiet agree,” the droid wearily responded, slumping vers l'avant, vers l’avant as the Sith Lord’s hologram faded out of sight. Returning to the doorway, he continued as Juno hurried past, “He is trapped within the memories of his training under Darth Vader. He believes the pain he feels now is due to his master’s punishment. He seems to have no awareness of outside events, except those with coincide with his hallucinations.”
“We’d better give him a sedative of some sort, then,” Kota mused, looking over to where Juno was unsuccessfully trying to calm the deliriously distraught apprentice. “If he’s in that much pain, it means his neural system is healing, but it’ll be a long while yet before he fully recovers. If he recovers,” the old Jedi added. “He’s strong and willful, but there are some scars nothing can heal.”
He sighed, still staring blindly at Juno. “When the senators leave in a few days, she has to go with them. The Empire already sees her as a traitor - she can’t stay in one place, and the Alliance could use a pilot of her skill.”
PROXY nodded in agreement. “A logical conclusion, General Kota.”
The Jedi passed a frustrated hand across his damaged eyes. “You’ll stay with me, PROXY - I have to continue healing the boy. I’ll need to find a secure place to hide, though we might be able to stay right here - it will take the Imperials awhile to re-establish their base of power around here. Just one thing, Proxy - bail and the others don’t need to know about -him - yet; it would just complicate things even more.”
“Very well,” the droid conceded. “I will keep my master’s secrets, as always.”
***
“You’ll take care of him, won’t you?” Juno queried anxiously to Kota. Both were standing at the base of the boarding ramp of Princess Leia’s ship, which would shortly be taking off, laden with rebel dignitaries.
“I’ll do everything I can,” the old Jedi promised. He looked shrewdly at her. “You still haven’t accepted this yet, have you?” he observed.
Juno shrugged uncomfortably. “No, I suppose I have,” she admitted. “It’s hard, but I understand
“Then toi realize why, at least for now, toi can’t stay with him?”
She nodded unhappily.
“Good.” They clasped hands. “Force be with toi all. Remind Bail to send all transmissions through Proxy, and that he’ll have to be the one to get in touch with me, not the other way around.”
“I will.” She turned to leave.
“Oh, and Juno?”
The pilot looked back, halfway up the ramp.
“Try not to get yourself killed. As I a dit before, I don’t want to be the one suivant to him when he wakes up and realizes you’re dead.”
Juno almost laughed, then disappeared into the ship. A few moments later, Kota had stepped back as the craft ponderously rose above the arbre line, then it curved about and nosed upward into the atmosphere.
The old Jedi hoped to the Force that the rebels knew exactly what they were getting into. Because if they made just one major mistake -
Flat bantha poodoo.