Star Wars: Rise of the Battlemage - Chapter 362 (Patreon)

Arriving back at Nirn felt as welcoming as it always did, even as I still carried the tension of encroaching politics. When we arrived, 3rd Fleet was in a loose orbit around the planet, though they were not directly above Nirn, as that position was left open for the Fury. They were close by, an impressive array of ships that would likely only be growing in the coming months.

It was actually interesting to see how much our orbital assets were growing. The four combat stations we earned previously, including the one remaining battering ram and the three fully functional stations, were arrayed around a gap where the Fury settled in, with both the CIS repair station and the CIS cargo and supply station stationed far beyond that point, spread out but still in the same general area. 

I was also happy to see that the first defensive station, the Bavos I Defensive Platform, had returned from the Mon Cal shipyards. It was already in position at a slightly "higher" level in orbit, acting as a first layer of protection against incoming dangers. The Golan II was already gone, sent to get updated so it didn't require a ridiculous amount of crew. It would likely return in a week or two and settle in a position similar to the Bavos.

When both heavy stations were in place, we would also then move the other stations up as well, forming a defensive wall around the Fury and the other two stations. The idea was to create a line that would give evacuation teams enough time to load up civilians from Nirn onto the Boxi's Fury, then cover it as it escapes. The people manning the stations were fully informed of this, as while they would have their own escape vehicles, their chances of escaping were much lower.

Combined with the stations, a heavy starfighter screen, and all of the planet-based anti-ship weapons we had around Nirn, we were finally getting to a point where I felt confident that, if we were attacked, we could evacuate most of our citizens, if not all of them. That wouldn't stop me from prioritizing our growing defenses, though.

As we jumped into the system, after passing through the security checkpoint, we learned that the Bavos was at least partially active, as it acknowledged our arrival alongside everyone else as we came out of hyperspace around the planet.

Once the Fury was in its proper position, our guests were guided to shuttles, and we brought them down to the surface. Since these were special circumstances, we made allowances to land on the plateau, which we very much didn't allow these days. The city had a few small landing pads spread out across it, but by and large only speeders and small starships were allowed to land directly on the plateau. 

After landing, we took them on a short tour of the thriving city, showing off the growing arts district and some of the parks, making a point to lead the people through one of the larger and more beautiful ones. We definitely weren't already sure there would be Jedi sparring and meditating, and two mages practicing magic. At that point, we had around thirty mages in total, all of them slowly getting better and better at magic. I was also very happy to learn that several of the combat-oriented mages, as well as two civilians, had reached the Apprentice level of spells and were already working on, or had already learned, Healing Hands. 

After the first tour was completed, we landed at our newly constructed diplomatic compound, tucked into the far corner of the plateau, away from the rest of the city. The compound included several dozen large rooms, all overlooking the jungle below the plateau, a proper banquet hall, plenty of open space, and some minor amenities, including a staffed kitchen. Or rather, a kitchen that could be staffed when people were visiting and needed to be fed.

Due to Nirn's pretty temperate weather, the building design was open, coming out with a vague Naboo-style architecture with green domes and pale stone construction, which was actually real stone harvested from a new quarry. The building teams even managed to fill the various garden plots with various plants, despite having such a limited timeframe.

It actually came out pretty well, and the teams working on it were rewarded well for working so hard and so long to make sure it was done in time for our guests. I could tell that Leia and the others were impressed, and since the space was usable for any group coming to visit, it was absolutely worth the time, effort, and money required to make it happen.

I would have preferred for it to have happened less rushed, since that aspect cost us a premium, especially in getting things like specialized materials and furniture, but it worked, it was done, and our guests were impressed, so mission accomplished.

With guests shown their living spaces, they were sent off to settle in, while we got some time to decompress and prepare, as a few hours later we had a proper welcome party planned. 

Just a few hours after noon, the guests gathered back together, this time wearing fancy dresses and outfits, and we had an outdoor feast. It was a celebration of coming together, of allies sharing food, and it was also a chance to show off what Nirn had to offer, both the resources, the raw food materials, as well as the people making the food.

Nothing says "we are impressive" more than an exploding food scene.

The spread was wide and varied, all of it filled with locally grown and raised food. There was even pizza, sushi, and several other Earth-inspired foods, all of which came together through my constant influence. Pizza had been a growing thing for a while, as had some pastries and a few other of my influences, but sushi was a recent concept I accidentally introduced to the population of Green Port. They eagerly took it and ran with it, creating a dazzling array of rolls, all from the bounty of our ocean. I had already heard of a sushi restaurant being put together on the port, and several restaurants were serving it at Vercopa.

And of course there was a huge variety, including several plates of desserts, most of them made with native fruit. My favorites were the pies and cream danishes made with the cherry flower fruit, but our chefs were having a bit of a renaissance, mixing and matching recipes from all over the galaxy and adding in things from Nirn. 

Where our first gathering had been a mingle and meet, this was a seated arrangement, with people spread out over just under a dozen tables. The atmosphere was light, and people were enjoying the event, which was good. There was only one complaint, and to be fair, I didn't quite blame them for having it.

"Are you sure this is necessary?" Leia asked, glancing at Winter.

"Princess Leia, it is fine," the agent and advisor assured her again. "Given the circumstances, I cannot blame them for their caution. And while it is not the most flattering accessory I have worn, I have worn worse."

The aforementioned accessory was a headband that held tiny projector units on all four sides of her head. Should she look up, or be out past a certain time, the projectors would project a dome barrier of light around her, obscuring her view of… well, pretty much everything. She would just be able to see out of it, but it would reduce her fine vision completely, so there was no way she could pick out important stars or colors or anything else in the sky.

She was not wrong, either, it was not a very flattering accessory, though she still managed to look dignified and stoic with it on.

"I'm sorry, but the alternatives were worse," I explained with a frown. "I know it's over the top, but…"

"It is fine," Winter repeated, looking over at Princess Leia. "Considering the importance of the secret you are keeping, I understand the need for precaution. And I thank you for not accusing us of attempting something untoward."

"I trust the Princess," I said, nodding to the secret Skywalker. "At least, I trust her not to default to trickery, especially not to an ally. If she thought we were a threat, or was concerned about our intentions, she would trick and snoop with them best of them, of course."

Luke, the one with the least experience in politics, chuckled at the joke and gave his secret sibling a look, one that said I had her down to a T, only to wince and look back down at his food when she gave him a rather scathing look in return. Then I had to fight back a chuckle. Honestly, with their unfortunate… "confusion" seemingly passed before it could even rear its head, I don't know how anyone didn't immediately assume they were siblings.

I frowned, knowing that at this point, we were the only ones holding that secret. I wish I could tell them, since knowing they had family would no doubt be happy news to both twins. Unfortunately, it would also come at a cost. Now more than ever, it was not the time to reveal to Leia that she was the daughter of the man who tortured her, then helped blow up her home, kill her real parents. She had an incredible amount on her plate, telling her now… 

On some level, I knew it was presumptuous to assume I knew better, that deciding for them that waiting until the war was over to reveal the truth was better for them. Sadly, there wasn't really much I could do about it. Leia deserved to be able to attack this mental knot without the war weighing on her, and now that she was the leader of the Rebellion, that was only more true. 

I wasn't worried about her forgiving him, as, to be honest, I don't think he deserved it, especially since he hasn't gotten the chance to get killed saving Luke. I always hated how forgiveness seemed to have been forced on her. Hell, she even named one of her kids after him!

Instead, I was worried about her struggling to come to terms with it so poorly that it broke her.

I shook my head and refocused on the conversation, listening as Ahsoka redirected the topic to something new, probably having felt my emotions as they twisted.

Eventually, after a few hours had passed and everyone had eaten, I stood and made a toast. It wasn't an overly moving speech, instead just a few words of welcome, an expression of eagerness to discuss the future of our collaboration, and an expression of faith in the leadership of Princess Leia. After that, the party slowly broke up, with guests making their way back to their rooms. Security for the compound was sparse, but a few older Jedi were walking around, some talking to guests, others simply patrolling the grounds.

While most of the guests headed to their rooms, Leia, Luke, Han, Chewie, and Winter all joined me at my home. Leia had promised an explanation as to what her plan was, and I was very curious to hear what she had in mind. 

As we entered my home, Winter's headgear turning off as she stepped inside, Han shook his head as he watched her enter, stopping outside to look at the other houses. Something in his eyes made me pause as Tatnia, the last person to arrive, stepped inside. She paused when she saw I had, but I waved her through. 

"Something on your mind?" I asked, the archetype-defining rogue glancing at me.

"Nothing, just admiring the neighborhood," He said, though after a short silence he continued. "You built something pretty impressive for such a short time. Makes a guy wonder what he is doing with his life."

"I'm not sure it's a fair comparison," I pointed out. "I have a few distinct advantages."

"Not even those explain Winter," he said bitterly, rolling his eyes. "Woman has been on my case since she met me. Meanwhile, you ask her to wear a holoprojector on her head, and she apologizes to you."

"She is protective of Leia," I pointed out, stamping down a smirk when I realized what he was annoyed about. "Just keep doing what you're doing, she will come around." 

"You think so?" He asked, not quite believing me.

"They were raised together as siblings," I explained. "She is just being protective of each other, look at how Leia reacted to Winter's accessory. Either one would be overly critical of anyone trying to get close to the other." 

"Huh… I guess that makes sense," he accepted, shaking his head a bit with his thumbs hooked to his belt. 

"Have you made a move?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Maybe some sort of opening gesture?" 

He glanced at me, and his silence told me I'd hit the nail on the head. I had no idea what was going on in the background with them, since I had clearly butterflied away the entire Cloud City arc…

Did that mean Lando is just going to hang around Cloud City forever? That… might actually be better for him, since a lot of writers used him as a punching bag. All of his business ventures, which were all grand and over the top, were doomed to fail, so if he could just stay at Cloud City…

I shook my head and focused on the moment. Without Luke and Leia's weird tension in the way, Han was free and clear to step up earlier, the question was if he would. Since I was the one who undid their rather iconic first admission of love, the least I could do was give them a nudge.

"You know…there is a restaurant down in the food district that specializes in privacy. Ahsoka and I use it when we want to eat out but don't want to deal with the attention," I said with a smirk. "The food's great, service is polite, the atmosphere is high-end, but still warm."

He looks at me with a raised eyebrow before realizing what I was suggesting, starting to look a little unsure. 

"There's going to be plenty of gaps between negotiations, and there will likely be time after as well. At that point, you'll just basically be waiting for me to bring you back to Alpha Base, meaning most of you guys won't have anything to do…"

"I… I mean-"

I had to hold back a chuckle at seeing someone who was usually so good at putting up a confident front suddenly fall apart in nervousness."

"Relax, I get it, you don't want to mess it up, and she is a princess, way beyond an orphan spacer," I said with a nod. "But think of it this way. To almost everyone in the galaxy, she is Princess Leia, an untouchable figure whom thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, put on a pedestal. Doesn't that sound exhausting? It might be nice if she had someone who called her Leia, shared a bit about his history, and took her on a casual date." 

I let him mull that over, patting his shoulder as I turned to head inside. I left the door partly ajar as a reminder to come inside, but I wasn't at all surprised when Chewie made an annoyed grumbling sound and left the room, following Han as he walked down the front path to our house.

"What was that about?" Tatnia asked as we watched Leia and Luke share a confused look.

"Gave him a bit of a nudge about stepping up for Leia," I admitted quietly. "She could both use someone to lean on right now, and he is a good man."

She nodded understandingly before we headed further into the house, specifically making our way to the living room, where everyone else was waiting.