Leia, Princess of Alderaan

by Claudia Gray

  If so, these were traces of people who were rising up against the Empire, but in the most terrifying way possible.

  Leia knew she should bring this to her father. Or maybe even to her mother. Or she could bury the files deep in databanks, hiding them so well nobody would ever know she’d reviewed them.

  Instead she pulled up star charts that revealed travel lanes to Itapi Prime, and to Crait.

  Alderaan never seemed so beautiful to Leia as when she had returned from Coruscant. After that world’s metropolitan crush, she always welcomed the feeling of freedom that swept over her when she saw her world’s snowcapped mountains, shimmering glacier lakes, and broad blue sky.

  Usually she celebrated her homecoming by taking a long walk outdoors, or even going for a dip in one of the lakes. This time, much more important tasks demanded her attention.

  First Leia found one of the Wobani families she’d spoken to several days prior; she caught them on the eve of their departure, already preparing for their trip to Itapi Prime. “Why, yes, Your Highness,” said the father of the house. “My cousins have done a fair bit of trade through Calderos Station. I haven’t heard of that planet you mentioned—”

  “Crait,” Leia repeated, hoping it would stir a memory.

  He shook his head. “No, I don’t know that one at all. But Wobani and Itapi Prime, yes, very active through that station.”

  “I don’t suppose you know exactly what trade they were active in?” She raised an eyebrow.

  “Not at all, though I suppose I’ll find out soon. Going into the family business.” He smiled broadly; if he was lying to her, he was doing a good job of it.

  As she’d anticipated, Breha was too wrapped up in plans for the next big party to welcome her daughter back home. The knowledge stung, but less than it usually did. Nothing comforted Leia as much as having work to do, or a puzzle to solve.

  That night in the library, sitting beneath one of the star-globes, she reviewed the Calderos Station findings she’d been able to salvage. And salvage was the right word. When she’d gone into the senatorial databanks in search of more recent data, she found everything had been deleted, going back months before the attack on Calderos. Leia was used to information suddenly “disappearing”; Palpatine’s government was blatant in its erasure of history. This time, however, she thought the Empire might not be the ones to blame.

  If some people are actually organizing to take action against the Empire, she reasoned, they’ll cover their tracks as well as they can. If those people were using Calderos as a vector for trading ships and armaments, they’d try to erase any data that could lead back to them—and they might even choose the base as a target. Cripple Imperial traffic in the area and conceal themselves, all at the same time: it’s a smart move.

  Leia caught herself. She hated the Empire, of course, but that didn’t mean she should just pick up a blaster and start shooting at the first thing that made her mad. Her father had always stressed the importance of their work in the Senate, the need to fight for change through the law. Could she condone these people resorting to violence? Casualties at Calderos Station had been limited to a few injuries, but that kind of large-scale action would ultimately lead to loss of life.

  How many people die because of Palpatine’s rule every year? Is it deadlier to fight against that kind of tyranny or to let it flourish? When is it time to give up on peace and take up arms?

  She didn’t have answers to those questions. Probably she wouldn’t even if she had a degree in philosophy. Leia knew only one thing for certain: she wanted to know more.

  There could be no question of taking the Tantive IV on a secret mission. Instead, Leia commandeered the Polestar and asked for a crew of only one.

  “Crait?” Ress Batten frowned at the star charts. “I’ve never even heard of that system.”

  “With good reason,” Leia said. She wore a pale coverall and had already stowed hiking gear on board the yacht. Finding activity on a planet as desolate as Crait might take a while. “There’s nothing there—or there shouldn’t be. I’m on a fact-finding mission for the Apprentice Legislature.” Since she was an apprentice, and the one in search of facts, she figured that didn’t count as a lie.

  Batten wasn’t convinced. “I didn’t know you guys had fact-finding missions.”

  Okay, add a little more detail. “I’m tracking a couple of shipments that headed out that way.”

  “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 plan
et, 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.”

  Larger Imperial ships and stations had tractor beams. Maybe this wasn’t resistance to the Empire after all. Maybe they’d flown straight into a trap.

  The prospect didn’t scare her too much. As long as the Polestar wasn’t shot down, she’d be fine. Once Imperial officers learned who she was, her release would be only a matter of time. But I’ll always be watched. Under suspicion. My parents will find out what I’ve been up to. And what about Batten? Will they release her too? Fear for her pilot eclipsed any worries Leia had for herself. Please don’t let me have hurt someone else. Not again—

  The Polestar pulled free of its tether with a jerk that nearly sent Leia crashing to the floor. She couldn’t be relieved while the ship was still headed toward the ground at considerable speed. “Batten? Are we all right?”

  “We will be! Gonna be kind of a rough landing, but we’ll make it. Just don’t tell the other pilots about this.”

  “We’re never telling anyone about this!”

  With a lurch and a thud, the Polestar made contact with the ground, skidding across the salt flats for what felt like a long time. Finally, they came to a stop. Leia pulled up a visual on the nearest screen and saw blank whiteness surrounding them in all directions—except for the one slash of red that marked their path along the surface and pointed to them like an enormous arrow. The first thing that told her was the most important: If anyone’s looking for us, we won’t be hard to find.

  By the time Ress Batten joined her shortly afterward, Leia was already half suited up. Batten shook her head. “We’re just running out there? Not checking around first?”

  “We’ve found as much as we’re going to find with ship’s sensors.” And if she waited very long, fear would get the better of her. Nobody liked to admit this, but courage had a short half-life. You had to act while you had it.

  When the two of them set out from the Polestar, the opening of the hatch allowed gusts of wind to blow through the yacht; pinpricks of salt stung Leia’s nose and cheeks. At least the harsh wind meant the red trace they’d left on the ground would soon be erased—but that was the only good thing she could say about it. She pulled her safety goggles up to protect her eyes and walked out.

  Crait was as featureless a world as Leia had ever seen or imagined. At least in this vicinity, nothing marked the landscape but salt drifts sloping toward a mountain range ahead of them and an indistinct horizon behind. Everything was white on white, with only the faintest pink patches visible on the ground where the Polestar had skidded on the surface. She felt a moment’s gratitude that they’d landed at sunset. At midday, the shine of sunlight on salt would be blinding.

  “Not exactly the hottest holiday spot in the galaxy, is it?” Batten said, her voice crackling through the speaker on her breath mask. “Though I guess if you really want to get away from it all, this is the place.”

  Snow might be difficult to hike through, but Leia quickly learned it had nothing on heavy, slippery sodium. She trudged through salt several centimeters thick to get to a slightly higher spot on the ground, then took out her macrobinoculars. If their early scans were correct, the structures they’d seen would be approximately half a kilometer ahead, nearer the base of the mountains. No signs of activity in the distance, which suggested that they’d managed to land without being detected.

  That, or they were being watched.

  “Let’s keep moving.” Leia nodded toward Batten. “Repeat our earlier message on comms as often as you can. I want them to know we’re not trying to sneak up on them. This is a…friendly visit.”

  “We’re all great pals. Check.” Batten began walking toward the horizon, clicking resend every few steps.

  Another sharp gust of wind sliced through the air, sending up flumes of white salt around deep red gashes of soil. Leia was reminded of blood oozing through makeshift bandages—not the most reassuring image. The red never remained bright for long, though; salt settled back into the grooves almost instantly with a low, constant hiss. It sounded enough like a whisper to send chills along her skin. Impossible to stay calm when it felt like the planet itself was trying to warn her, drowning out the recorded call echoing from Batten’s comm.

  Taller salt drifts marked the terrain as they moved forward. The wind picked up too, making the salt swirl low on the ground like smoke. Although Leia had always found Coruscant claustrophobic, its skyscrapers were reassuring compared to this stark, featureless land. Its din would’ve been a comfort after Crait’s eerie near-silence. From Batten’s belt Leia could hear fragments of their message: “Polestar of Alderaan to base—please respond—”

  A deeper rumble
behind one of the salt drifts made the hair along her arms prickle. The enormous salt mound nearest them trembled with the vibration, grains skittering along its surface. She shouted, “Is it an avalanche?” Or whatever you called it, when what was falling was salt instead of snow.

  “I don’t think so,” Batten said. “Sounds more like—like a vehicle. Or like machinery—”

  The salt drifts exploded, or seemed to. Waves of salt sprayed out in every direction, lashing Leia’s thighs and midsection and knocking her backward. The grainy stuff made for a hard landing, one that scraped her hands and cheek. She coughed, tasting sodium in her mouth and feeling scratches in her throat.

  “Hands up,” came an unfamiliar voice. Amid the whirling salt, figures took shape—five soldiers, each of them armed with blaster rifles. Batten twitched, clearly considering going for her weapon, but had the good sense to remain on her knees. The soldier said, “Identify yourselves.”

  Leia got to her feet, lifted her chin, and spoke in the same bold voice she had used on her Day of Demand. “I am Princess Leia of the royal House of Organa, future queen of Alderaan, and I demand to speak to your leader, now.”

  The soldiers exchanged glances. Apparently they weren’t used to people giving orders while being taken prisoner, but they’d just have to get used to it. She was a princess, dammit, and there was incredible power in knowing that.

  Finally the lead soldier motioned toward Batten. “You, there, return to your ship. The princess comes with us.”

  “No way.” Batten stepped sideways, trying to come between the blaster rifles and Leia. “I’m her guard. I stay with her.”

  The lead soldier shook his head. “Either the princess comes with us, or both of you get on that ship and fly away now.”

  Brightening up, Batten replied, “I say we go with that. Righto, nice meeting you, we’ll just be going.”