Beyond - Legends Lest Ye Be Judged--Vader war crimes trial--Voted Best All-Around, thanks!

The Grand Audience Chamber of the Theed palace had not gone unscathed. Despite being one of the few rooms to avoid a hazardous rating, its north wall was only partially intact and the flooring bore the marks from where the ceiling had inconveniently collapsed sometime during the last few months. They had cleared the debris in an effort to make room for the audience, but there was no pretense of wholeness. The room was as scarred and worn as the people who met there in recognition of their ability to survive the dark times.

Still, there was an inherent nobility to the place. It reminded Leia strongly of a room by the same name in the Antibes Palace and she was grateful that she had chosen to come here in advance of the delegations.

?Palpatine ordered the initial damage inflicted to the plains and the lake countries in the early years of the war,? Mother said quietly from behind her, ?but the damage to the Palace did not come until twelve years before the Alliance won Yavin. The Queen who had been in place at the time of the fall of the Republic sheltered Rebels and Jedi alike and was executed for her crimes within these very walls. The Imperial forces were not exactly...careful in their efforts to smoke out the traitors. Her successor was no less anti-Imperial, but she was more discreet about it. She even continued to send Republic loyalists to the Senate until its dissolution.?

It was more of a recitation than an explanation, but Leia did not miss the crackle of emotion in her mother's tone. She recognized it as the same sort of inflection that she used when trying to explain what Alderaan had been like.

?I think,? Mother said, ?that she would have supported our meeting here today if she were alive.?

The woman who had grown into maturity as many other Naboo monarchs had died two days before the Battle of Endor. The following months had been the first in several hundred years to pass without a ruler in place, but the people had put their faith in each other rather than an elected government. It had its advantages, but would have to change if there were to be a viable relationship with the New Republic and the Alderaanian colony.

?I think many who have gone before us would be proud of what we are accomplishing today,? Leia murmured. ?I just wish a few of them were here.?

Mother linked her arm through Leia's as they promenaded along the perimeter of the room. The windows had been recently replaced in anticipation of this convocation, creating an odd contrast between the destruction and the pristine result of reconstruction.

Mother paused before a window overlooking the long main courtyard and for a moment, Leia could imagine her as a young woman, wearied and old before her time much as her daughter had been. She could almost imagine that this window was for her mother what a Death Star viewport had been for the last High Princess of Alderaan.

?They call me the last surviving politician because I was never removed from office,? Mother commented. ?Because I simply died rather than losing an election or being forced from office by one of Palpatine's undemocratic whims. Sometimes, I feel as if I survived nothing at all.?

Leia's arm tightened around hers in recognition of their kindred state of surviving martyrdom. ?I know exactly what you mean,? she agreed.

Before they could continue the conversation, the door at the rear of the hall cracked open and Atole entered.

?Madam,? she addressed Leia, ?the delegates have all arrived.?

?Thank you,? Leia replied, stepping away from Mother and turning to face her aide. ?Is Han still in our room??

?He is,? she confirmed, ?and he said that there's no way he's coming here unless you drag him out of there.?

Most likely a direct quote, knowing Han. Leia smiled and turned to Mother.

?If you'll excuse me, I have a husband to bully into a dress uniform.?

?You only have twenty minutes,? Mother chided with a matching smile. ?Are you sure that's enough time??

?Twenty centuries would not be enough time,? Leia conceded, ?but he

 

Great Job Ish!

 

Nice post, Ish.It's good to see Alderaanian refugees getting a new home, there. Good post all around.

 

A good update, Ish!

I liked the description of the Grand Audience Chamber:

The Grand Audience Chamber of the Theed palace had not gone unscathed. Despite being one of the few rooms to avoid a hazardous rating, its north wall was only partially intact and the flooring bore the marks from where the ceiling had inconveniently collapsed sometime during the last few months. They had cleared the debris in an effort to make room for the audience, but there was no pretense of wholeness. The room was as scarred and worn as the people who met there in recognition of their ability to survive the dark times.

Still, there was an inherent nobility to the place. It reminded Leia strongly of a room by the same name in the Antibes Palace and she was grateful that she had chosen to come here in advance of the delegations.



There is an issue about the Queen of Naboo:

The woman who had grown into maturity as many other Naboo monarchs had died two days before the Battle of Endor. The following months had been the first in several hundred years to pass without a ruler in place, but the people had put their faith in each other rather than an elected government. It had its advantages, but would have to change if there were to be a viable relationship with the New Republic and the Alderaanian colony.

?I think many who have gone before us would be proud of what we are accomplishing today,? Leia murmured. ?I just wish a few of them were here.?

I would have thought that there was provision for a deputy monarch, if the reigning monarch died, resigned, or became incapacitated. That deputy would, presumably, then become the King or Queen of Naboo.

This meeting was interesting:

It was the right of the Jedi Order, small as it was, to have representatives at this meeting. Luke and Mara had been invited by default, since Li was uncomfortable with the idea of traveling that far and Anakin Skywalker was not considered to be sufficiently Jedi to be considered at all. Still, it had been a struggle to convince Luke that he should attend in the first place. He had offered to stay with Anakin in the family's quarters and watch the proceedings on the holocomm, but Anakin had insisted on taking advantage of the publicity. If nothing else, it gave the newly reformed Order a chance to showcase the return of the Jedi presence to the Galaxy.

Instead of standing at his son's side as he should have in such an event, Anakin sat uncomfortably in a too-small repulsorchair at the suite's only desk. The delegates were all seated and the holoshills had begun broadcasting several minutes before the announcement finally came.

Palpatine is probably grinning at the mess Luke is making. Anakin shouldn't be at the meeting; because he is a prisoner, who should be locked up, not treated as if he is a member of the Order. Also, Mara Jade a member, someone who is a former Imperial assassin? Of these two, one is Luke's father, the other his intended. The bias is rather overwhelming here. If Luke is trying to destroy his attempt to revive the Order, he's doing a good job. I can see there being even more assassination attempts being planned once that broadcast starts. Of course, there are other things that could happen. ('This is a message for Luke Skywalker. If you insist on protecting your father from what he deserves, we'll make sure that the Jedi Order's name stinks throughout the galaxy'.)

After looking at the description of the project, I have a question:

It was one of the more unusual construction projects Leia had ever seen. After all, most efforts did not require a weapons checkpoint or a security screen. Even more unusual was the fact that each person on the project underwent a retinal scan for identification and approval before entering the construction zone.

When the Naboo had submitted the petition, they had probably never considered the rebuilding of storefronts an

 

I'm home with mono, so had time to start reading this story. Got through 3 pages so far.

Amazing reading!!!!

 

Thanks to SilSolo for a fantastic look at things to come.

 

Ish, you said:

Thanks to SilSolo for a fantastic look at things to come.

I agree; it's lovely.

 

Edit: Thanks, Kevin.


Dana

 

Two words:

Private message.

 

Two words:

Tried. That.

 

Thanks for the help, Dana. Let's stay on-topic, rest.

 

It's Padme!!! Yea!!!

And I love the mother-daughter recognition scene. It's exactly what Leia would do, remembering her face as she does. After all, Padme's only, what, 46? And you know Natalie still looks 16, so I doubt Padme's changed much at all.

Great engagement scene! Although I don't think Han would care a flip what Vadey thought of their marriage. He'd ask Padme`'s permission, sure, though. I can totally see this from Leia:

"It is your choice," Mother assured her. "It would, however, go nicely with your engagement ring."

Leia's head came up sharply, since she hadn't yet donned the ring. "You know about that?"

"When your groom-to-be came over to ask our permission just a few hours ago?" she rejoined with a grin. "He got it of course, though your father..."

"He should have no say in it," Leia snapped, pulling the dress out of her mother's hand and turning away to head for the 'fresher.

"Nevertheless, he gave his approval."

"I'm very happy for him," she shot back.



I wonder what Padme looks like now, though. Is she very wrinkled? I assume she got cleaned up. And ankle length hair!! Did she get any of that cut--or was it all so matted from years of no grooming tools that she really had to chop it off short? How does she dress these days, since she's no longer a government dignitary?

"Today, however, I stand before you to tell you that there is no such thing. Vengeance, by its very nature, cannot be righteous. There is justice, legal adherence, patriotic fervor, but the idea of taking matters into your own hands for the sake of 'an eye for an eye' cannot be permitted.

"You may wonder why I, the leader of what was once the Alliance to Restore the Republic, would espouse such a notion. It is simply for this reason. We did not win this war in order to find ourselves in a position to destroy all others. We won this war on behalf of unity, understanding, and uncompromising justice. The moment we forget this is the moment that we become what we fought to abolish.

"I stand before you today, knowing that most people in my position would have had long months of campaign promises behind them, and promise you victory if you will grant me the favor of forgetting the word feghaza. I plead for you to forget that justice can be personal and to remember that it should exclude no one. If we work toward that common goal, we cannot fail."


*looks across the water toward the Middle East*

That's just the kind of thinking we need everywhere, and not just in the GFFA.

What a speech. What a speech!

 

Merry Christmas, all. Happy Chanukah to those I missed. Happy Kwanzaa just in case. I was hoping to have this done by tomorrow, but that would require you to read 200 pages in 2 posts and I don't want your cute little eyeballs to explode all over my nice little story thread. So, instead, here is a 6-page post to wrap up this section of the fic and usher us into the very last section. There's more coming, but it's not ready for posting and it'll be much longer. For Christmas, I'm doing all my author replies!
*****

Relatively speaking, the first day of work was a success. In spite of the formal protests and vague threats that had started even before Anakin Skywalker was assigned to the work detail, no one had actually interfered.

It was no surprise, then, that Leia's office staff reported an increase in the amount of hate mail. It was as much a morning ritual as the security and intelligence briefings and Han's tendency to treat bureaucracy as a romantic matter.

This morning, she glanced only through the ones that Tarrick felt obligated to send her?the ones coming from governmental officials rather than disgruntled citizens?and then turned her attention to the more odious task of reading the rest of her correspondence.

Since Han and his task force were supposed to formally resume the war against Zsinj today, she opened the messages from the Joint Chiefs of Military Operations first. A moment later, she sighed and called out for Han.

He appeared almost immediately with a groggily wary expression on his face. ?What's going on??

?Nothing urgent,? Leia assured him, sliding the datapad across the table to his side. ?The Joint Chiefs want me to sign off on a replacement squadron for the Rogues in your task force and I thought I should make sure you won't be tempted to do something worthy of a court-martial to the Commanding Officer.?

?Depends,? Han replied. ?Who's the poor idiot??

?Salm.?

Immediately, his expression darkened. ?No,? he said firmly.

?He's a veteran of both the Imperial and Alliance Navies,? Leia argued, ?and his squadron's record is quite impressive.?

?Exactly,? Han snapped. ?He's cocky and commands like nothing he does can get his pilots killed.?

Leia bit back the response that Han obviously didn't like commanding people just like himself and frowned. ?Do you have any other objections??

?He likes Abrax cognac,? her Corellian husband sneered. ?No decent, self-respecting commander should get near the stuff.?

?Who would you have suggested instead?? she challenged.

?Black Deaths,? he suggested. ?Their CO's a good Chandrilan that was with us at Hoth.?

She was shaking her head before he finished the first sentence. ?Black Deaths are under investigation for a security leak,? she informed him. ?They're off duty for an indefinite amount of time and as it is, I'm not sure I'd like to send them to a fight like yours in the aftermath of that trauma. They'll likely lose some confidence in their unit.?

?Then swap out Salm's Avengers and let me have the Rogues back,? he offered.

?No,? Leia responded. ?Salm already asked to recuse himself from that for personal reasons. I'm not making it an order to change his mind.?

Han's mouth pinched slightly as if he had just bitten into something extremely sour. He could have argued that he had personal reasons for keeping Salm away, but other than a few verbal arguments that Leia had overheard, there was no evidence that Han's concerns were valid. He was simply at odds with the man and with a reformed Sith Lord on the loose, that was not reason enough.

?Then why are you asking me in the first place?? he challenged.

?Mostly as a precaution,? she explained. ?I want to know in advance if there were any other viable options or if there were risks in putting his people under you.?

Han grunted unhappily, sliding the datapad back with a little more force than necessary. ?Fine, if that's what they want, I'll find a way to make it work.?

?Good,? Leia commended with a sympathetic smile. ?I knew y

 

Thank you for the Christmas Eve post.

Merry Christmas to you.

 

I loved Han and Leia's conversation and how smoothly it flowed, there. In-character all around. We need you to write profic, Ish. I feel like Han, too.

 

You know, I don't know much about this Salm character, but if Han Kriffing Solo is calling him cocky, you know he's got issues.

 

Salm was a general mentioned in the X-wing books who bugged the Sith out of Wedge Antilles. I foud him appropriate for this cotext.

 

Ah. Well, if Wedge doesn't like him, then clearly the man is evillll....

 

Aww cute! I can't wait for the rest! I think that the 200 pages in 2 posts sounds fun!

Great Job!

 

LOL, Luke and Mara trying to keep their engagement a secret is so funny. And Han actually warming up to Anakin... Love it. What a great chapter. Merry Christmas!

 

Okay, I know there was military talk in the last post, but this is post 1 of part 4 and there's 11 pages that's mostly military talk and one really mushy scene, plus some of that Han/Leia mushy strategy talk. I promise to do Author Replies soon, but this darn segment of the story was bugging me to death. We are now past 285,000 and closing fast on the end. Be looking out for AR's and a post tomorrow.
*****
PART 4
REPARATION

Once she had returned to Coruscant, Leia had found that the functional government had rediscovered their dependence on their Chief of State. Mother would have joked that 'absence makes the heart grow needier,' but she had elected to stay on Naboo for the duration of Father's stay.

Tarrick, the man who had worked so effectively in directing the flow of traffic in and out of the Alderaanian court, was the one to take on the burden of scheduling. He had assumed this task upon joining her staff, but had not been given much practice. It was the price they paid when the most powerful woman in the Galaxy spent half of her days in a courtroom across town.

The first six weeks had passed relatively quickly as a result. Leia found herself half-impressed and half-dismayed by how short the time between the weekly reports seemed to be. She considered this to be a good sign, since they were not punctuated by reports of prisoner escapes, misbehavior, Jedi mind tricks, indications of sedition or assassination attempts.

Then again, she could have placed bets on the thought that the Alderaanian/Naboo project would be the least of their worries during this time. The Alderaanians were pacifists by philosophy and the Naboo had taken as many precautions as possible to prevent attacks on their volunteer architect. Father, for his part, was far too loyal to the people of Naboo and too respectful of his daughter's chosen culture to attempt anything.

The remaining four and a half months would be more of a challenge, but perhaps this good start would plant the seeds for a successful appeal.
*****
?Your 0900 meeting is here,? Atole informed Leia as soon as she arrived at her office by way of the private entrance.

Leia checked her wrist chrono with a grimace. ?It's not even 0845,? she said. ?Is there a particular reason why they're unreasonably early??

?I don't believe so, except to say she's a Jedi,? Atole said apologetically. ?From what Tarrick tells me, that explains a great deal.?

Leia could name immediately the location of every known Jedi in the New Republic--Father, Luke and Mara were all en route from Naboo. That left only Master Khe, the Jedi who had refused to get involved in the post-Endor mess except to train Mara and serve in an advisory capacity.

?Show Master Khe in,? she requested. ?It would be impolite to keep her waiting any longer.?

?Yes, madam,? Atole said cordially.

A half minute later, Li stepped through the doorway. Leia had only chanced to see her on occasion since she had been returned from Ziost, but there was a marked difference in the woman. Surgery had corrected her paralysis and they had seen to her recuperation so that she looked more like one of the old Jedi than ever before.

?Master Khe,? she said respectfully, ?I was wondering when you would come to lecture me on something.?

Li smiled wryly. ?I am not here to lecture,? she stated. ?I leave that for after lunch, when my victims tend to be in better moods.?

?Please, have a seat,? Leia replied.

Li took the seat closest to the eastern wall, her hands clasped around a datacard in her lap. Leia nodded to the card.

?I assume that has something to do with your reason for being here??

Li immediately extended it as if Leia had issued an invitation. ?It is,? she confirmed. ?When I spoke to your Mother, she explained to me the basics of submitting a formal petition and suggested that I bring it directly to you rather than going through some committee.?

?A petition,? Leia echoed. ?Does this have something to do with the Jedi claim on Anakin Skywalker's life??

?No

 

Leia really shouldn't be using taxpayer money to shadow her brother. Of course Luke knows and Leia will be ticked when she finds out. Ah, sibling rivalry.

 

LOL, that is definitely NOT what she is doing. Though, given the fact that he misled her in regards to the whereabouts of a state prisoner at a particular time, she could justify following someone suspected of breaching security.

 

I loved the back-and-forth between Khe and Leia, there. Hmm, Han's reaching endgame with tubby, there. And Zsinj is reaching the end of his cable, there.

LOL, love that Luke and Mara are already engaged, even without the ring. I love how you write those two!

 

78 replies later, 3501 words, at 1600 posts, I'M CAUGHT UP!
*****
Kevin_Solo --*drool...zzzzzzzzzz* Sorry, natural reflex to get started with a solid nap. I'm not going to do anything through really supernatural methods, much less make Obi-Wan channel his spirit through someone to snark at the court. It would be cool, but out of character for the story. Plus, you should nitpick your own lack of acknowledgment that we've got the Imperial superstition against the Jedi. I?m sure there was someone speculating back then. Yes, the Jedi went on about being guardians of truth and justice, but I believe that part of the Military Creation Act's reasoning would have been that the Jedi were too overwhelmed and therefore the power of maintaining the peace had to be sort of outsourced at that point. I'm glad you like my story enough to be so nitpicky about it and you know my pet peeves. Especially the political ones. Remember, this is a fic trying to be finished in less than 4,000 pages and that can only deal with so many of the readers' personal wish lists. Thanks. Any good lawyer would be involved. Based on your reply, I have come to the conclusion that you really need to stay away from popular media. Really.

cibbler --He will.

Blue_milkshake?I love that waiter, too. He's one of my favorite characters based on someone else's genius to write. Awww hands over tissue* Thank for you for thinking this phenomenal.

RK_Striker_JK_5 --Thanks . I like the whole Qui/Obi conversation on the balance thingy. A lot of emotion is based less on physical response than instinct in my opinion. Glad you liked Han's definition of loyalty. Glad the letter seemed poignant. Thanks.

PHGS_Weyr --Well, thanks in one word.

Kevin_Solo --Now I feel relieved. I'm glad you liked the look at people when they died. Glad you found Obi-Wan's reading to be good. Interesting that you liked the views on the sentence part best. I wouldn't have guessed it. Yes, it has the potential to make matters worse, but as I have said many times in various contexts, it's impossible to keep everyone happy. It's not about the normality. It's about the circumstances of how he came to them, the aftermath of the war, who is involved, etc. In this system, it would not be unusual for a date to be fixed based on certain circumstances and this is the first trial of its kind in the new era. They are going by standards that have to be both inflexible and accommodating in some respects. Yeah, 'less than sedate' was a polite term. He did increase the guard. Not just one Jedi, but that's his immediate guard. The signs would not be permitted there. Rioting is for outside. No, that's not normal, but reference my earlier comments about this NOT being normal. Have I mentioned I still like you?

AnakinsFavorite --Oh, good. As long as it's entertaining. Chapter 9?Leia's definitely made some improvement, but has a long way to go. Yeah, a bit harsh. Anakin's inclination is probably definitely there and always will be, like someone who will always be an alcoholic, but he is learning to tamp it down. I agree with your assessment of the whole Death Star matter. Chapter 10?My favorite Leia moment of the ROTJ novelization was her thinking about how Jabba the Hutt is small potatoes next to what, in detail, Vader did to her. I wouldn't say I'm glad that part was heartbreaking, but I appreciate the realism of the response. The rites and suffering were based on something I read from a book called Kaddish about a man's journal of formally suffering for his father. I'm glad you liked that quote. The quotes come from me being very clear-headed past midnight, usually. I never think them up beforehand. Chapter 11?Yeah, that part slightly gave me the creeps. Glad you liked that irony. It's what I was thinking at that point in ROTS. Glad you liked the parallelism. Chapter 12?They're not guarding him willingly just because they want him protected. It's more a case of them wanting him to survive until he can be T