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A sharp clink-clink rang out through the packed hotel boardroom, prompting Leia Organa Solo and many others to turn their gaze to the large bay windows overlooking the Crispin Mountains. Chardaan’s orbital drive yards cut the sky like great planetary rings, disappearing behind the jagged peaks.
A Bothan man stood near the window, grinning as he lowered his glass of wine.
“I would like to call this first meeting of the New Republic’s Constitutional Convention to order.”
Leia rolled her eyes as she lifted her drink to her lips, but decided not to say anything. After all, she knew–
“Is that really necessary, Ambassador Fey’lya?”
–somebody else was bound to. She smirked to herself.
Fey’lya shot a glowering look across the room at the massive avian who'd admonished him. "Well, someone had to kick things off, Gavrisom. Otherwise, we'd all be chattering on forever. Some of us more than others." The Bothan downed his drink in one massive gulp. He gestured with his now-empty glass towards Leia. “Ambassador Organa Solo? You are our master of ceremonies, I believe.”
She took a deep breath and pulled out her datapad, connecting to the projector positioned near the center of the room, pointing at a blank wall.
The first slide of her (admittedly quite bland) ‘presentation’ read: Diagnostics.
She stood and began to pace the room, hands clasped behind her back and aware of every eye on her. “I believe that if we truly are to write a constitution for a New Republic, we need to begin by understanding what went wrong with the Old.
“I know there are many schools of thought on this topic, and I’d like to begin by offering my own thoughts, then opening the discussion.”
She swiped her finger across her datapad. The next slide read: Power and Accountability.
“Based on my study of the events preceding the Fall of the Republic, I believe that a key factor in the collapse was the lack of power the Republic held as a governing entity, as well as the unchecked power of megacorporations. The sheer fact that the Trade Federation was able to grow powerful enough to become a pseudo-state in itself is, to my mind, absurd.
“While the Empire did technically crush the power of these corporations, they were ultimately subsumed into the state; it was a power transfer, not a redistribution, and the power the Empire wielded – and continues to wield, in too many places – was just as unaccountable.”
“A moment, please,” came a voice from the assembled ambassadors. Leia inclined her head, welcoming the question.
The young man, who she recognized as one Kodlan Masric of Kuat, cleared his throat. “Am I to understand you are proposing giving the New Republic more power than the Old?”
Leia nodded. “Crucially, this power will be given, by consent of the governed. I was under the impression that was something we could all agree upon?”
“Of course, of course. I simply see that greater power being abused quite readily.”
“All power can be abused,” a voice replied. Leia turned and saw, to her surprise, that it had come from Ambassador Fey’lya. “That’s no argument against it by itself, unless you’re an anarchist, which I know you aren’t because you’re here. It’s our job to set up checks and balances to see that it isn’t abused.”
“A critical check being that of the people’s vote,” Leia continued, somewhat grateful to Fey’lya for agreeing.
“Nevertheless,” Ambassador Gavrisom interjected, “the more power such an entity has, the more harm it can do.”
“And the more good it can do,” Leia defended. “The key is preventing it from causing harm while doing as much good as possible.”
“So, there’d be watchdog organizations in place?” Masric questioned.
“Ah, but who watches the watchmen?” another voice butt in.
Leia took a deep breath. This was going to be a long few weeks…
“We’ll take too many casualties launching a full-frontal assault on the station.”
Luke Skywalker pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes as he thought. There had to be another way; he hated sending people to their deaths. That was partly why he was here in an advisory role rather than a commanding one.
Corellia was a key system, one of the last stopgaps between the Alliance Home Fleet and the Core; Operation Skyhook – the name given to the campaign to liberate Coruscant – began here. On the ground, the Corellian Resistance had already started open warfare with the Imperial garrison, but the orbital defenses were proving difficult to crack, even with the aid of the recently defected RAS Aurora (formerly the ISS Imperial Majesty), a so-called ‘fleet-killer’ destroyer-dreadnought that many hoped could swing the entire war.
“We’ll figure something out,” he heard Han say. “Everybody, take an hour and use your brains, then reconvene here. Got it?”
A chorus of ‘ser, yes, ser’ went up before the main squadron leaders filed out of the briefing room. Opening his eyes, he watched as Han ran a hand through his hair.
“The Force tellin’ you anything?”
Luke smiled. “That’s not how the Force works.”
“Shame,” Han said, leaning with both hands on the display in front of them.
“There are ways around the orbitals.”
Luke immediately turned to face the voice, while Han pulled his blaster pistol and pointed it at the woman leaning against the wall near the door. She smirked through a mop of messy red hair.
“How the hell did you get in here?” Han asked.
The woman shook her hair from her face and jabbed a thumb at the door. “The door was unlocked.”
Luke exchanged a glance with Han, who was very clearly not in the mood.
“I meant, how’d you get on this ship?” he growled.
The mysterious redhead pushed off the wall gracefully, entirely unfazed by the blaster in her face. “I snuck in on one of the scout craft.”
“So, you’re an Imperial spy?” Han asked.
“One of the best,” the woman confirmed.
“Give me one reason not to shoot you right now.”
“Han, I don’t think she’s a threat,” Luke interjected.
“Oh, is the Force telling you that?” his friend asked without taking his eyes off their visitor.
It was, but he wasn’t about to admit that. He decided to reason with his old friend, instead. “If she was a threat, why would she just admit to being a spy?”
“Maybe she’s just posturing. I used to pull stuff like this all the time.”
Luke fought the urge to roll his eyes. Han still pulled stuff like this. His gaze shifted back to the woman, who was still staring down the barrel of Han’s pistol with the shadow of a smile on her face. He had to admit, he was impressed by her nerve. She met his gaze and batted her eyes at him.
“Luke, can you please ask your friend here to put the blaster down?”
“How do you know my name?” he asked dumbly, before kicking himself. Most people knew his name by now, even if he still sometimes felt like nothing but the farm boy from the middle of nowhere.
The redhead laughed, a bright sound that Luke found to be fitting for her. “Come on. I’m a spy – you think I don’t know the most famous person in the Rebellion?”
“Hey!” Han exclaimed from beside him, clearly somewhat insulted.
The woman made a show of rolling her eyes as she swung her gaze to him. “Fine, General Solo, two of the most famous people in the Rebellion.”
“More like it,” Luke heard his friend mutter, and he stifled a laugh. The redhead flashed a grin and a wink at him, and he felt his heart skip a beat. That may or may not have influenced his decision to reach his hand out and gently push Han’s pistol down. The action earned him a sharp look.
“She’s probably defecting,” he defended.
“Pretty much,” the woman agreed.
Han scoffed, but didn’t raise his pistol again. “What, now that the war’s startin’ to turn the other way, you wanna jump ship?”
“I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t part of it,” the mysterious woman acquiesced. “But I’ve been a sympathizer since Alderaan. I think you’re going to find that lot of people have been; murdering nine billion people wasn’t exactly something you could just sweep under the rug. And I’d know – they had us try…”
Luke was still getting used to the particular power, but the Force was telling him this woman hadn’t lied to them so far, which was something. Han looked less than convinced, though, and was probably still a breath or two away from just blasting her.
“I can be of real use to you, and not just because of the intel I can hand over,” the redhead continued.
“What, because you’re just that good a spy?” Han challenged.
The Imperial agent smirked once again, took a step forward–
–and vanished.
Luke shook his head and blinked rapidly. There had been a person there; they’d been talking to a person. Right? Of course, they had been. But, he couldn’t, for the life of him, remember what they looked like… Or figure out where they’d gone.
A glance at Han told him that his old friend was just as confused.
“Surprise,” came a somewhat familiar voice from behind them.
Luke spun around and found the woman, leaning on the holodisplay with both hands and still smirking. Han half-turned as well.
“Oh, I don’t like that,” he said darkly.
“That’s incredible!” Luke exclaimed, ignoring the pointed look his friend shot him. “You’re using the Force?”
The woman shrugged, visibly flattered by the compliment. “Yeah, I think so, but that’s about the only thing I can do with it,” she said sheepishly.
Still, that was a revelation. He’d only ever read stories about so-called ‘Force camouflage,’ and only in centuries-old texts. To see it in action was incredible – there was no other word for it. He wondered where she’d learned, and by all accounts mastered, such an obscure technique. The woman rolled her neck.
“Since I have your attention, why don’t I introduce myself?” She stuck a gloved hand out to Luke. “Mara Jade – until about three hours ago, a Special Agent with the ISI.”
He shook her outstretched hand with his own gloved prosthetic hand. “Luke Skywalker,” he offered. “Even though you… know that already,” he added shyly.
“Well, it’s not every day you meet a living legend.” Jade stopped herself, placing her other hand over her heart. “Excuse me, two living legends,” she amended with a coy look at Han.
Han, for his part, flashed an expression halfway between a sneer and a smile. Luke smiled in spite of himself – he could tell Han was already starting to like this woman. He just had a strange way of showing it; for him, there was a fine line between liking someone and wanting to kill them, at least at first.
A soft shake brought Luke’s attention back to his right hand, still in the grasp of Jade’s. Or, rather, her hand was still in his. She gave a small arch of her brow and cocked her head to the side slightly. Feeling his face heat up in embarrassment, Luke quickly released her. She gave a small, nearly imperceptible smile, and he saw a glint in her green eyes.
Or maybe he just thought he did.
Mara clasped her hands behind her back and bounced once on her toes. “So,” she began in a light tone. “Who wants to do some spy stuff?”