Saga Pieces of the Past, Fragments of the Future (Week 11 and 12 up June 7)

Title: Pieces of the Past, Fragments of the Future
Author: Briannakin
Characters/Timeframe: Various
Notes: Written for the Ultimate Drabble Challenge VIII. These will probably be all over the place, but probably a focus on Legends.


Week 1: Pieces of Alderaan

1. Valor

The flag of the New Republic was neatly draped over each of the caskets. Chief of State Leia Organa Solo looked on in horror as bodies were offloaded off the transport, not that her shame showed on her face.

They had won the conflict; brave beings brought peace to a waring planet. But she, as their commander and chief, did not share in their courage. The dead were the heroes. But all the politicians had was blood on their hands.

And Leia’s hands were dripping; stained red with the valourous.

How many had she asked to die for her causes?


2. Honor

Honour Thy Father: the man who taught you to know when to speak, when to stay silent, when to pretend, how to beat them at their politicking, but always to stand up. Honour Bail Organa.

Honour Thy Mother: the woman who taught you the importance of history; to learn from the past so that former mistakes are never made again. Honour the woman who gave her life to become the last Queen of Alderaan.

Honour Thy Planet: for you, Winter Celchu, are the last true child of Alderaan. You are the one who can’t forget; the one who must remember.


3. Sacrifice

“This will be their fatal mistake,” Bail Organa said, holding his ailing wife close. She was dying, but that didn’t matter now. All of Alderaan was about to be destroyed.

Breha raised a hand to softly cup her husband’s cheek. “Our death will not be in vain,” she agreed.

“Alderaan will be avenged. Winter and Leia will make sure of that.”

“And the Empire will finally pay for all their sins.”

“This is right.”

“This is how it needs to be.”

They were at peace.

“I love you.”

“I’ve always loved you.”

They did not run. This was their sacrifice.


4. Defeat

Winter’s shoulders slumped in defeat, an uncharacteristic display of emotion for the woman known as Targeter. Within a moment, she returned to her regal posture.

She passed the flimsy note back to the Bothan spy. She spoke with clarity and strength. “Inform General Madine and Mon Mothma. Tell them Intelligence must have a meeting with all the commanders. Get Admiral Ackbar.”

The Empire was constructing another Death Star. Another planet could share the same fate as Alderaan at the command of the Emperor.

No. That could not happen. That would not happen.

She began calculating all of her next steps.


5. Victory

This was Alderaan’s final victory. A daughter, born to two proud Alderaani, thirty years after the planet had been destroyed. Peace had prevailed. Love had been found. Memories lived on.

Though, in the moment, Tycho Celchu only thought of this sweet infant in her mother’s weary arms.

He and Winter had discussed many names, but in the end, there was really only three options for this fair-haired bundle of joy.

Tegwen: named for the first queen: the mother and uniter of Alderaan.

Breha: named for the final queen.

Alderaan: well, that one was self-explanatory.

Tegwen Breha Alderaan Celchu.

 

Ooo, loving the subtitle already! You almost made the planet a character of its own, which is dead cool. Alderaan juxtaposed against Winter Retrac and everybody who was ever related to her in terms of real and adoptive family. Perfect, just perfect.

Valor - The last sentence is something I never pondered, but just like toys dying in Toy Story, this is one of those "what-ifs" that takes an especially creative and slightly morbid mind to find.

Honor - This was so good. Loved the structure and, just like Mira_Jade, I didn't expect the twist. Not quite.

Sacrifice - A flashback to your more recent story and hurts as much as that one did.

Defeat - This one had to be obvious. But I'm glad how Winter is continuing the Legacy almost immediately and reaching out to connect those who can avenge her planet.

Victory - While this victory is bittersweet, this daughter of Winter and Tycho's will make Alderaan live on. As Mistress_Renata said elsewhere, "you are Alderaan".

 

love your great set with first Leia as the politician, Winter as one of the last Alderaanians, Bail and Breha together in the end, Winter and her information and finally with offspring

 

Wonderful; a series of short drabbles and sketching the ongoing story of a doomed planet and the people who refuse to let its memory die. I do love how you've drawn Winter.

I just love this line:

 

Your work with Alderaan continues to impress!

1. Valor: Leia's feeling the emotional cost of the bitter campaign. It's a hard fought victory, but was it worth the cost in lives destroyed? She will have to live with the responsibility, with the red on her hands.

2. Honor: Father/Mother/Planet is also in a way present/past/future. You remind us of WInter's gift and curse:

I can't imagine the pain of remembering, in excruciating detail, the worst day of your life. It's a burden she is doomed to carry with her for the rest of her life. Nice twist, as I thought the "father" and "mother" were referring to Leia's parents, but they were Winter's too.

3. Sacrifice: In a way, this one kind of echoes "Valor" in that the deaths of many are the cost of victory. The nobility of Breha and Bail as they faced their imminent death with grace and dignity is beautifully done here.

4. Defeat: Winter's defeat is actually the beginning of her action. She remembers every detail of the horror of Alderaan's destruction, and she of all people understands how this atrocity can never, ever be repeated.

5. Victory:

This is beautiful, and a fitting end piece to the stories of war that the other four had been. Finally there is peace, and there is a sense of continuing instead of destroying. A victory not in a battle or a horrifying weapon, but instead in the form of a newborn. Lovely!

I'm eager to see what you come up with next week!

 

It always amazes me how powerful drabbles can be and how much you can say with such a small amount of words. That is magic! Thank you!

 

Thanks. RE: Valour, yeah, any leader worth anything had to feel horrible at some of their decisions. It shows humanity.

You're welcome for the tears I swear these won't be all sad. However, you know what inspired my sets, so there might be more ninjas cutting onions.

Thanks.

Me? Morbid? Nooo. Never! [/sarcasm]

And Tegwen is actually quite an old OC of mine. She has only appeared in one fic, but I'm hoping to revive her (eventually).

Thanks!

Thanks! I really do love exploring this doomed planet. I think it is so fitting to have one of the survivors have a perfect memory.

Thanks. I always thought Winter needed more recognition as Leia's sister. So many of our heroes are depicted as growing up as single children, and as a person from a big family, I always thought that was so boring and wanted to explore more of the sister dynamic.

And yeah, Alderaan was a peaceful planet. Of course the final victory would be a child.

Thanks. I live my life by the philosophy that great impacts are had by the fewest words. ANNNND I ALSO just love getting rid of plot bunnies in just 100 words.

 

Week Two: Fragments of Beru and Owen

Name

It confused many people, why Luke retained the last name “Skywalker” upon being hidden with his aunt and uncle. Couldn’t his dark father have found him with that name?

Truth was, Luke didn’t grow up a Skywalker. He had grown up Luke Lars. No one on Tatooine questioned it.

After leaving Tatooine with old Ben, Luke had decided to go by his father’s name.

Later in life, he regretted abandoning the name of the parents who had kindly raised him. Yet, Luke also felt the need to redeem the Skywalker name.

Plus, Luke Lars? What kind of name was that?


Title

“I never gave them the titles they deserved,” Luke said to his sister as he rocked his four-year-old son, Ben. “I mean, they were my parents, but I never really thought of them as such until after this little guy came along.”

Leia smiled and ruffled the sleeping Ben’s hair.

“They took me in, cared for me, all after knowing our parents for just a few days.”

“They knew our grandmother well,” Leia offered. “Perhaps they didn’t take you in as Anakin’s son, but instead as Shmi’s grandson? But no matter what you called them, they loved you.”


Number

I love you. I love more than there are grains of sand on Tatooine, more than there are stars in the galaxy. Numbers can not quantify my love for you, my third sun. My Whitesun.

It was such a corny note. She half expected it to end with a reference to the angels on Iego. Still, Beru clutched it.

Sitting on the countertop of her father’s kitchen, Beru swung her legs back and forth in the excitement of young love. She had no idea how many times she had read the note. She read it endlessly.

Owen Lars loved her.


Date

Many people thought that Luke joined Leia, Winter, Tycho, and many other Alderaani orphans on the new Day of Remembrance out of solidarity. Few knew that when he lit his flame, he was remembering two people that never set foot on Alderaan, yet they had died on the same date, and for the same reason.

Owen and Beru Lars had stood up to the Empire.

Luke thought his losses on that day were insignificant to others, but Leia and Winter always hugged him knowing no losses were insignificant on this date.

All who died standing up to evil were martyrs.

Spoiler

I’m not a prescriber to the idea that the majority of ANH takes place over a few hours - I think the trip from Tatooine to Alderaan took a couple days, but this got in my head, kinda inspired by Mira_Jade’s “we'll take a cup of kindness yet”, and it just wouldn’t leave me.



Legacy

Lukia traveled with her brother Jace, to the homestead where their grandfather, the great Luke Skywalker, had been raised.

It was rather obvious that Jace was named for Jacen Solo, and Lukia was named for their grandfather. But few knew their middle names: Han Owen and Jade Beru. In a small way, they carried on the memory of Owen and Beru Lars.

Lukia and Jace were named after so many amazing people, but it was those names that they carried with the most respect for.

Owen and Beru had saved the galaxy, for no thanks, for such a small legacy.

 

Beautiful set with Lars in all of them

 

I was 99% sure that I had replied to these, but my replies are gone. Ohwell, no use crying over split bits and bytes on a board where daily maintenance does this type of stuff regularly.

Name: Luke Lars would sound weird, either way. Like margarine or something, not sure how to explain. His last name is his legacy and a memory of those he thinks are gone...

Title: ...which is, once again, not enough to prevent his adoptive family from sometimes wondering why he isn't Luke Lars. I never thought about this before, you've caught a great connection in this particular pair of drabbles here. And the difference between name as name and last name as a title...hmmm. Cool!

Number: I can't imagine Owen like this, but at the same time, I remember the youngsters from the deleted scenes in A New Hope. This was Owen, the grouch, before living on Tatooine and being in constant fear of death for hiding Luke made him the jaded being he is. And seeing Beru delighted was also wonderful.

Date: Well, if the holiday was named like that, then it can be used for ANY kind of remembrance. Luke did not know Alderaan that well, his first and only impression of it in the G-canon was, well, a crumbly asteroid field, so of course he will remember what matters to him instead. Another great connection!

Legacy: Lukia is a rebel, but here, she rebels in a completely different way - by honouring those who died for the Rebels. And it was about time it was said, Owen and Beru were very, very important, far more important than what others may think.

Enjoyed this set just like the previous one - thank you.

 

Tried doing these last night but my hands were killing me. So I'm going to be kinda brief, but I really do appreciate all the super long comments! You guys are so great and supportive!

This week's will be up later today.

Thanks

Thanks so much. The stuff about Alderaan really means a lot to me.

And the Luke Lars thing was a shower thought years ago and I have yet to be able to fit it anywhere.

Luke Lars totally sounds like a brand of margarine!

And Lukia is totally a rebel in so many ways.

Thanks so much.

Thanks! Leia meeting Shmi through her diary in Tatooine Ghost is one of my favourite moments in the EU.

And I love your bit of fandom about Alderaan and I'm so happy I kinda got to steal it from you!

 

You made something very special here, changing my view on the Lars family forever. Thank you! I wish Vader would ever have been able to appreciate what his step-brother & Beru did for Luke.

 

These are beautiful! Owen and Beru don't get enough credit for what they did. They handled the actual raising of Luke - they wiped his tears when he fell, they taught him to respect others, they gave him the core values that shaped his thinking and decisions for the rest of his life. He would not have been able to handle the immense responsibility of things to come had he not been grounded by these two people.

They were simple people, and they only did what they felt was the right thing to do:

Just lovely!​

 

Thank you. No, they don't get enough credit. Sure Uncle Owen is depicted as fairly cranky at times (but seriously, who doesn't have that hard-outer-shelled uncle?) but I think both he and Beru loved Luke very much. They raised him right. I have a bit of a soft spot for the Lars. I was moved around a lot as a young kid and there was a point when my aunt and uncle took my sister and me in, then when things got tough for them, I was moved to a couple who were friends of my grandparents who didn't even know us. It takes a lot to be handed a child you never asked for, but I will always be grateful that people do just what the Lars did.

ANYWAY!

 

Week 3: Bits of Breha

Spoiler: Author Notes

Sorry guys! I swear I was going to get away from Alderaan and mix it up a bit. But plot bunnies are rabid creatures. Hopefully these will make some sense if you haven’t read any of my Bail/Breha longfics.

Helpless

Women swooned at the sight of the Prince Of Alderaan. The man was possibly the most eligible bachelor in the sector right now, perhaps maybe even the galaxy.

But Breha didn’t find her knees weak in his presence (except for that one time when she had literally crashed into him). Her heart did not flutter, nor did her stomach tie itself in knots. She was not helplessly in love.

He was a huge pain in the butt.

And currently late for the date he had practically begged her for. Bail Organa was going to feel her fury and her wrath.


Satisfied

Long ago, Bail knew love in any marriage involving him would be a far fetched dream. He, as a victim of his birth, had to marry a woman of a noble house. A woman who could either rule Alderaan or else let him guide her through the motions.

He searched, met, and dated nearly every eligible woman of noble birth his age on the planet. He had long since abandoned any notions of love.

He merely wanted to be satisfied.

A kind, sensible, just woman of reasonable intellect who could run a planet.

Was that too hard to ask for?


Enough

Would she be enough? For Bail. She wasn’t much of a domestic, and she knew he didn’t expect her to be. But she still felt inadequate next to him. He was an amazing politician with a good heart. That was a rare thing, particularly on the galactic level. He and his work deserved someone to keep up with him and support him.

Would she be enough? For Alderaan. She had been raised in a noble house, but the planet had such a long history. Their position in the galaxy was complex. Alderaan was peaceful, but not pacifist. A fine line.


Non-stop

With little Leia in tow, Breha’s work was constant. She was a mother, a wife, and a queen. Leia needed soothing and nurture, Bail needed affection after the war, and Alderaan needed stronger ties from Coruscant.

“You’ve been working non-stop,” Bail said, rubbing her shoulders as she took off her make-up.

“Well, unlike some people, I have not become irrelevant with the changing of the galactic government.”

“Take a break,” he urged. “Before you break.”

His words proved to be prophetic.

But he was there, in the medcenter, to hold her hand. To make her stop, and breathe.


Burn

They weren’t given a urn.

For Alderaan did not burn.

Destroyed in an instant.

Even the infant.

An example?

Blown out like a candle!

No one had a chance.

Not so much as an advance.

They were peaceful!

Yet there was a sequel.

The Empire’s fatal mistake.

Those left did not break.

That was the starter.

A planet, the martyr.

The Rebellion was built.

And refused to wilt.

The orphans were left.

To deal with the brutal theft.

As the movement grew and grew.

They made sure the galaxy knew.

In this they were stern.

For Alderaan did not burn.

 

Love your take on Breha and the destruction of Alderaan

 

Helpless: Ack, poor Bail! Breha is a woman who can stand up for herself and wants some responsibility. Dude, who cares if you're swoon-worthy if you aren't there on time?

Satisfied: Well, you didn't have to listen to so many holorecords, you could have just looked. And yes, this is EP ***tshaming a man for funsies. BECAUSE HE'S ALSO PICKYYYYYYY.

Enough: My favourite of the set! So much stuck in such a short literal form! Nice peaceful/pacifistic dichotomy as a foreshadowing of what will come next. Also, love the domestic bit, because it, in a way, makes Bail a feminist for denying the importance of it. But this rules: He was an amazing politician with a good heart. That was a rare thing, particularly on the galactic level.

Non-stop: Nice style figure with the verb and noun "break", nice Breha snark (if she only knew...LOL) and the chills and goosebumps for the fact that her body could not take the stress of being around an adopted child and that she needed a medical intervention already.

Burn: I am sensitive to poems about places that were destroyed in a short period of time, so this made me cry. That means it's good. Expressive, short, powerful. *wipes a tear*

Your love for Bail, Breha, Winter and Alderaan always fascinates me.

 

These are great. I particularly like week 3 and the homage in Non-Stop. Well done!
I am now going to have to go read your Breha/Bail fic.

 

The poem at the end thrilled me as much as it made me sad. Thanks for those precious insights of the Organa family, their adopted daughter included. Loved each drabble a lot. What magic you can work with 5x100 words.

 

No objections here for more Alderaan drabbles! These are lovely and poignant. Breha had such a short part in the movies but she is so important to the saga. My favorite was "Non-stop." It showed the caring and compassion they felt for each other. It's interesting how this set goes chronologically, from before they met to after they were parted in death.