A Remembrance
by Eddie Powe
The insistent proximity beeping jolted Han Solo out of his light sleep. Stretching, he glanced at his boards and saw that the countdown to hyper space exit had begun.
"Chewie, get up here." Han called into the speaker, "We're almost there."
Seconds later, the wookiee lumbered into the cockpit and dropped into the co-pilot's seat.
"Are the others still sleeping?" Han asked as he reached for the hyper space lever and pushed it forward.
Chewbacca growled a yes and reached to cut in the sublight engines. Outside the view port, the swirl of hyperspace gave way to, first, starlines, and then the pinpricks of thousands of stars.
"Well, here we are, wherever here is. At least the coordinates Luke gave us were right." Han said, "There is our target straight ahead."
Chewbacca glanced out the view port at the small planet looming in the distance.
"Any luck getting a name on our destination?" Han asked.
The wookiee shook his head, a low growl forming in his throat.
"Hey, it's all right. We should get our answers soon enough." Han said. "See what you can do about waking the others, I'll try to get in touch with someone down there and let them know we are here."
Ten minutes later, the Millennium Falcon's cockpit was filled to capacity as Leia Organa Solo, Han's wife and President of the New Republic, and their three children crowded in to sneak a glance at the planet ahead. Jaina Solo was already ensconced at the Falcon's pilot station preparing to land the ship, relieving Han of his duty.
"Well, we're clear to land. I got confirmation about six minutes ago. I hope whatever Luke has planned here is worth it. Coming to an uncharted and unknown world is hardly my idea of a family vacation." Han sneered from behind the pilot's chair.
"Luke said it was important, Han. And you know he is not one to be over dramatic about those sort of things." Leia replied.
"Yeah, I know. It's just that, at least once, I wish we could all just get away for a real vacation. Jacen and Jaina are sixteen. They aren't likely to cherish family trips for much longer." Han replied.
Leia grabbed Han's hand and gently squeezed. "I know. Tell you what, after our meeting here with Luke and Mara, we'll plan a little time for us all. I'll call Coruscant and tell them I will be gone for a little while. And I'm sure Luke and Mara will allow the kid's time off from their lessons at the academy. We may even be able to get Chewie to Kashyykk to visit Malla and Lumpy."
From the co-pilot's seat, the wookiee growled his appreciation.
"Okay everybody, get ready." Jaina interrupted, "We're entering the planet's atmosphere." And with a minor, almost unnoticeable jolt of turbulence, the ship began its descent toward the planet below.
* * *
The words of the guide were lost into the mists of time as Jedi Master Luke Skywalker watched the massive construction droids repair damage inflicted nearly half a century before. Massive stone buildings, which once stood proud and defiant, lay in blackened rubble around the square in which Luke, his wife Mara, and their guide walked. Luke could tell the planet had once been a beautiful place, elaborately decorated and adorned. It was hard to believe that so much hatred could be perpetuated upon a people. But, Luke thought, not impossible. After all, the Empire destroyed many worlds during their reign of power. Worlds such as Alderaan, the home of his sister, Leia Organa Solo. This world, Luke didn't even know its name, had been just another demonstration of the tyranny that was the Empire. A tyranny that Luke and others had fought for more than twenty years to finally end.
Luke returned his attention to his guide as an older man approached them from the far side of the square.
"Excuse me, Master Skywalker and Mistress Mara, I believe my associate has some news for me." the guide said.
"Of course." Luke nodded.
As the guide started across the square to meet the older man, a series of long warbles echoed up from beside Luke. He glanced down at his companion, the astromech droid R2-D2, and the small, flat device stuck to his cylindrical body. "Quit complaining, Artoo." Luke said. "I know you don't like it, but it was our hosts' wish. Besides, we shouldn't be here much longer anyway."
Ignoring Luke, the little droid again spat a series of complaints, followed closely by a question.
"Yes, I'm sure the construction droids are fitted also," Luke said.
"Don't tell me he's still complaining about the restraining bolt." Mara said.
Luke turned towards her and smiled. "Unfortunately, yes." Upon Luke, Mara, and Artoo's arrival, in the Jade Saber, the planet's natives demanded the little droid be fitted with the restraining bolt, citing droid "complications" of the past.
Mara reached down and patted the droid's dome as their guide returned from his discussions; a broad smile playing across his features.
"It is nearly time to learn why you were asked to come here." the man said. "Our sentries report that President Solo's ship has been detected and should be arriving within the hour. In the meantime, shall we continue our walk?"
"Very well." Luke replied. Pausing once to look at the clear, blue sky above, Luke and Mara turned and followed their guide.
* * *
As soon as the Falcon touched down, Luke and Leia were escorted into the massive building situated in the center of the courtyard. Whoever their host was had requested that initially Luke and Leia come alone; a suggestion in which Han and Chewie had reluctantly agreed to.
As the escort guided them through the debris scattered along the building's floor, he said: "This was once the Queen's Palace. It was a beautiful structure that displayed the pride of our people. The queen ruled from here with much determination and love for her people."
"Queen?" Leia asked. "So the planet was a monarchy?"
"Oh no," the guide answered. "We were very much a democracy. The queen or king was an elected position by the planet's people."
Leia looked at Luke, a startled look on her face. An elected royalty? she asked silently into Luke's thoughts.
But, before Luke could answer, their guide led them through a grand archway into a huge room. The room looked completely untouched, a far cry from the destruction they had witnessed outside. No doubt, Luke thought, this room had been one of the first to be rebuilt.
In the center of the massive room were four people: three men and a older woman dressed in a loose fitting red robe. As the party entered, the old lady turned and faced them, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth and , Luke saw, tears forming in her eyes. She walked across the room's stone floor at a brisk pace and extended her hand in greeting. "Hello, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and President Leia Organa Solo. My name is Sabe, welcome to the planet Naboo."
* * *
Han Solo stood shaking his head in amusement as he watched his youngest son, Anakin, argue with one of the construction droid's repairmen. Upon learning that one of the droids had developed a malfunction, Anakin had insisted on taking a look at the massive construct. He immediately proceeded to tell the repairmen working on the droid that they were going about the repairs all wrong. The repairmen, apparently a little upset with a fourteen year old boy telling them their jobs, had asked for someone to remove Anakin. But Anakin's stubbornness, no doubt inherited from his mother, Han thought, kept the boy firmly entrenched alongside the droid and workers.
Han smiled and turned his attention to the other side of the square. His eldest son, Jacen, had taken up company with a group of strange looking animals the natives called Kaadu. The animals had been extremely agitated earlier, but Jacen had seemed to have successfully calm them down, to the utter amazement of the native animal trainers. What a family, Han thought, pride filling him. A small growl from Chewie brought Han's attention to the wookiee standing next to him.
"Yeah, I'm sure they are okay." Han replied to Chewie's question. "Don't worry. Luke and Leia can take care of themselves." And even as he spoke the words, he caught himself. After all these years of fretting over Leia and her brother, Han had finally accepted that they were powerful jedi and that they could protect themselves better than even he and Chewie could. Funny how time changes things, he thought.
* * *
"You knew our mother?" Leia, asked, with both a mixture of excitement and apprehension. Numerous times in the past, she and Luke had been taken along varying paths with the promise that at the end of those paths would be information concerning their birth mother. And, every time, the ends of those paths were just another impenetrable wall, filled with lies and misinformation.
"Yes, I was one of her trusted handmaidens. And at times, when the situation warranted it, was the queen myself." Sabe replied, as she glanced across the small table the threesome was seated around. Sabe had brought Luke and Leia into what was once the Naboo Queen's throne room.
"What was her name?" Luke asked. "How did she die?"
"Her name was Amidala. She was the Queen of our planet, Naboo, and was a wise and fair leader. Unfortunately, I do not know how she died. The final time I saw her she was alive; when she and you," Sabe said, indicating Luke and Leia, "were taken away by the Jedi Knight Obi Wan Kenobi."
"Naboo? So, that's the name of this planet? Why is its not listed in any records? And what exactly happened here?" Leia asked.
"The Empire." Luke said, before Sabe could answer.
Sabe nodded and turned her eyes to the giant window across the room at the destruction which lay just outside. After a moment she turned back and said, "Please, let me start from the beginning."
"Of course." Luke replied.
Sabe straightened in her chair, looked into Leia and Luke's eyes and began her tale.....
"The time was not long after Palpatine declared his New Order. Obi-Wan Kenobi was on Naboo to escort Queen Amidala and you off world and into hiding. It had been just a few months prior that Kenobi had come to Naboo bearing sad tidings for the queen; her husband and father of her two children had died during a battle. Now, he had returned to tell the queen that the Empire was bringing a fleet to Naboo to destroy it. At first, many in the royal court did not believe Kenobi. Naboo was Palpatine's home world, after all. Why would he have forces destroy his own planet? they asked. Therefore, many were doubtful of the jedi knight's claims. The queen, however, had no reservations. It seemed she was aware of some things others were not. Therefore, she agreed immediately. She packed only the belongings in which she and the children needed and left with Kenobi. But before she left, she told myself and other members of the court to warn the people of Naboo to do likewise. But, as you know, it is impossible to evacuate an entire planet. Besides, Naboo was our home. Therefore, even though there were still doubts as to Kenobi's claims, we prepared for war. Those doubts were soon erased as Imperial Star Destroyers began entering the system. Almost immediately, the giant warships began issuing salvos of turbolaser fire upon the planet's surface; destroying buildings, vaporizing oceans, and leveling mountains. We, of course, launched our Space Fighter Corps to engage the enemy, but our forces were severely outclassed by the Empire's fighters, and were slaughtered quickly. For close to a day, the Star Destroyers continued to batter the planet. We organized groups, determined to evacuate as many people as possible before the Empire began landing ground troops. We had few transports and the selection process was a horrifying and terrible ordeal. Finally, groups were chosen, myself included, and transports loaded while the remaining populace fled underground, into hidden catacombs Amidala had had constructed. The transports began lifting away just as the Empire's new TIE fighters entered the planet's atmosphere. Two of the transports were destroyed immediately and two others floundered under the barrage of the fighters. The transport I was on, under the piloting of Ric Olie, made it through the TIE fighter line and into outer space. However, one of the Empire's Star Destroyers and more TIEs were waiting for us. Olie flew the best that he could, but the transport's lack of maneuverability made us an easy target. Our ship sustained much damage and we became trapped in one of the larger ship's tractor beams. We had all but conceded defeat when we saw another of our transports purposely crashed into the destroyer's superstructure. Its kamikaze act afforded us the gap we needed to make the jump to hyperspace. However, it was to be a short jump. Immediately after reaching hyperspace, we noticed that the motivator had been severely damaged in the fight and that we needed to return to realspace. We came out in an area of space that had not been catalogued in any of the Republic archives. We landed on the nearest planet, found it habitable, and tried to effect repairs on our ship. The repairs, however, were beyond the capabilities of our best mechanics and we knew we were stranded. We tried to find some sort of civilization on the planet, and after much searching we found a small village. It was very primitive with small huts and what seemed like no type of electricity. Worse of all, however, was no life forms. It was completely deserted. For a while, we set up a meager existence in the village and after a couple of weeks, search parties were formed and sent out to look for other existence of life. Those who returned said they found nothing. It was if the world had been completely abandoned, and quickly. It seemed, funnily enough, much like what had happened to us on Naboo. Finally, we resigned ourselves to a life on the planet and over time, we carved out an existence. We were stranded there until about a year ago when a old smuggler, on the run from a bounty hunter, landed on the planet to hide. Our people helped him defeat the hunter and he rewarded us by delivering a functioning motivator. We then left and headed back home. The smuggler stayed with us for a while and supplied us with the means in which to rebuild our planet. We learned much from the smuggler during his time with us. Things like: the Emperor's death and the rise of the New Republic. He even said he knew many of the Republic's leaders well. From him I learned about you and knew instantly who you were. So, when one of the workers found two mementos from our past, I knew I had to somehow contact you. And through our smuggler friend, I was finally successful."
After Sabe finished her story, Leia turned and looked at Luke. "So that's who contacted you about this." Leia said.
Luke smiled and nodded his head. "Yes," he said.
"So, how is Talon Karrde doing?" Leia asked.
"About the same as ever." Luke replied.
"That good, huh?" Leia smiled. She returned her attention to the older woman and said: "I would assume, the Emperor erased all existence of Naboo from the Imperial archives after his razing of the planet."
"Yes, it would seem that way," Sabe replied.
"Don't worry, the New Republic will gladly re-establish Naboo as a member planet. And we will do what we can to let the rest of the galaxy know what happened here." Leia said.
"Thank you," Sabe replied, "but I believe, for now, we wish to remain anonymous. We will submit ourselves to the New Republic when we think the time is right."
"I understand," Leia replied. For a moment, the threesome sat in silence. It was Luke that broke it.
"What about the momentoes you mentioned earlier?"
"Oh, yes," Sabe said as she rose from her seat and walked across the throne room to a small alcove. She produced two objects, returned across the room, and laid them on the table. Luke and Leia recognized the lightsaber immediately. However, the other article was a mystery.
"These belonged to your mother," Sabe started. Leia held up the strange looking item, and finally realized that it had once been an elaborate headdress of some kind.
"That was the headdress Queen Amidala wore with her throne room gown. A beautiful piece, called the Jewel of Zenda, once adorned the middle of the headdress. We, unfortunately, have been unable to find it. It has probably been scavenged over the years," Sabe said.
Luke, meanwhile, was observing the lightsaber, turning it over in his hands. "Was Ami-, our mother, a jedi?" he asked.
"Your father believed he sensed jedi potential in the queen. He had started training her in the ways of a jedi just before his death. Forgive me, but it's funny really. Many in the queen's court could sense the anger in Anakin in those later years. Many believe if he had not died, that anger would have overwhelmed him and the galaxy would have suffered greatly. Maybe more so than it did under Palpatine's rule," Sabe said.
Luke and Leia exchanged glances, then returned their attention to Sabe and nodded.
"Those, of course, are for you," Sabe said, gesturing to the headdress and lightsaber.
"Thank you," Leia replied, as she and Luke rose from their seats and bowed to Sabe. "And thank you for bringing us here and for telling us what you did."
"I did it as a service to the greatest queen who ever ruled Naboo," Sabe replied. "Good-bye, President Organa Solo and Jedi Master Skywalker. May the force be with you both."
* * *
Luke and Leia exited into the bright courtyard outside of the palace to a waiting Han Solo and Chewbacca.
"Hey, is everything all right?" Han asked.
Leia looked at her brother and smiled. "Yes. Matter of fact, everything's wonderful," she answered.
Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? E-mail Eddie Powe
