Star Wars: The Alderaan Affair/Part XX - Dead Planet

Leia lifted Epin into the air, her hand outstretched. She seemed to ponder him for a moment before deciding what to do. Feeling his throat beginning to contract, as though someone was choking him he cried out to her.

“Le...” He choked. “I...”

Seeming to want to hear what he had to say, Epin felt himself able to breath again and he gulped down large breaths. He found he was mistaken however as he felt Leia's own hands wrap around his neck instead.

“Now Epin, I smash the roadblock that has been in my way.” Said Leia, grinning at him. “You never gave a damn about me, otherwise you'd have come.”

“I...” Said Epin, gripping at her fingers, and pulling them away enough to speak. “I've loved you for...”

“You...love me?” Asked Leia, her arms going limp, releasing Epin.

“Yeah, I do.” Said Epin, getting to a seated position, as he had been dropped to the pavement when she released him. “Though I'm not too thrilled with you at the moment.” -	Bail and Breha Organa sat atop their palace, watching as the large object in the sky loomed overhead. He had made the evacuation message, though was uncertain how many people would be saved at this point, but it eased his conscience knowing he had made an effort. His wife swallowed hard beside him.

“Bail, what about Winter?” She asked. “Have you heard from her?”

“Oh, well no.” Said Bail, frowning and wiping a tear from his eye. “But I know she'll be able to find her, and I've already sent her the transmission to stay away and I've informed Ben to...well...”

“That's good Bail.” Said Breha. “At least that's set in motion.”

Bail and his wife looked into each others eyes and kissed one final time as a green glow engulfed the sky overhead. - “Ep, I don't know what to say.” Said Leia, not looking him in the face. “I came here to...well kill you. I feel like hearing you say that somehow woke me up from some sort of entranced sleep. Like it's what I've been waiting to hear this whole time.”

“Well maybe you should ask people how they feel, instead of having to choke it out of them.” Said Epin, rubbing his throat.

The ground shook slightly and a rumbling could be heard. The two looked at each other and then down the street at Aldera Palace. Epin's eyes widened at the sight of the large object shooting forth a green beam of some sort directly into the city. Leia stood at his side as they watched the beam in awe, which had since caused a dust cloud in the air over the spot where it had hit the planet, where Aldera palace had been seconds before. Bits of earth and sand were hurled into the air from the crater due to the force of the beam, which seemed to be piercing through the planet itself.

“What in the name of...” Said Epin as the ground shook and rumbled. “What is that thing!?”

“Dad...why...” Leia sobbed. “It wasn't supposed to...”

“Leia, what's going on?” Epin yelled, as the ground shook even more and actually split open a small amount.

Leia would not answer and he finally grabbed and pulled Leia to her feet. He took hold of her hand and pulled her after him, heading away from the blast zone. Through the streets, people ran and screamed as buildings collapsed and the ground split apart. Dust clouds hung in the air from falling buildings and glass rained down from shattered windows above. As they ran, they were obstructed by a large crowd of people, all of which apparently had the same idea of heading to the spaceport, which was alive with the sounds of ship engines roaring to life. To their right, a housing complex leaned dangerously and toppled down towards the crowd. As people screamed and ran to escape the large buildings shadow, Leia looked up at it, apparently doing some quick thinking and lead Epin over to a specific point. Epin, realizing what Leia had done, pulled her to the ground and draped himself over her, shielding her from the glass of the building that came crashing down onto them. After the crash, Epin saw that Leia had apparently used The Force to keep the furniture from striking them as it tumbled down, as Epin could see it surrounding them on the wall, which was now the floor. Several people were not fortunate enough to escape the falling building and Epin could see an arm sticking out from the edge of the window.

Getting to their feet, Epin and Leia began to climb the wreckage inside the building to the opposite side, which was now the top. They reached it and climbed out the hole that had been a window. Standing atop the collapsed building, they watched as the beam pulsed, making it larger and brighter for a split second and causing the area surrounding the initial crater to collapse, making the hole larger. Taking this as a sign nothing was going to change, Epin and Leia raced to the edge of the building and Epin jumped to the ground, which he was grateful wasn't a very far drop. He turned to catch Leia, but she was already in front of him and this time had taken his hand and was now leading the way. As they passed by the spaceport, two ships which had both attempted a take off collided and fell to the ground in a fireball of wreckage.

“I've got a bad feeling about this!” Epin yelled. “If these people don't get out of the way, we'll be...”

“No we won't, we just have to get to my ship!” Said Leia. “It's just past the spaceport, come on.”

Epin followed Leia as she lead the way through the crowd, seeming to part them with ease. They arrived a short time later at the city exit and rushed into the grasslands. The giant ball seemed to know they were attempting to escape its fury as it sent another pulse into the ground, which cracked open as fast as they retreated from it. They eventually reached a small grey starship, hidden in the shade of a clump of trees. It was ball shaped with a sort of triangle nose that extended some eighty feet from the front and wings that ended in sort of folded fins in top and bottom of them.

“Leia what the kriff is happening!?” Epin called as he reached the hatch, watching her disappear up a set of stairs and following.

“We...” Said Leia, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand as she sat down in the pilot's seat and pressed buttons on a console. “We have to get off this planet. Now.” -	Epin joined Leia upstairs in the cockpit area where she was concentrating hard on flying them off of a planet that was rupturing beneath them. Epin could see the molten core of the planet bursting forth from deep cracks in the surface. He couldn't believe what he was witnessing and wondered if this was some vivid nightmare. He shook himself mentally.

“Leia, what's going on really?” Epin asked as he placed a hand on the back of her chair.

Epin cut himself from further talk as they broke atmosphere into space and he was able to see the beams origin, a huge ball shaped object, the size of a moon. Epin's jaw dropped and he stared, mesmerized at the object, pumping the green beam into the planet he had grown accustomed to over the years spent on it. The beam pulsed once again and Alderaan, seeming to give up, cracked completely apart in an explosion which sounded as though he was hearing it from underwater and which sent a shock wave over their small ship, making it rattle. Leia cupped her hand to her mouth as Epin drew himself up and placed his hands on the top of his head. A gaping hole was left where the planet had split apart and the large broken chunk hung in space, next to the now dead planet.

Leia sat, astounded at the sight in front of her. Her home, destroyed. While she had never been a fan of its customs and traditions, she was still an Alderaanian, no matter where she went, she could always come home. Now, if she ever came back again, all that awaited her was this cluster of rocks. Leia wondered what the surface looked like now. The planet was barely recognizable and while she was doubtful that anything, or indeed anyone, survived the blast, she was certain they wouldn't survive the now airless planet. Because The Death Star's main weapon caused a planet's atmosphere to burn away in addition to rupturing the core when it finally broke through the layers above. She had heard about it during her absence, she never thought about what such a thing would look like. Leia shivered at the thought of what the thing was truly capable of. How could she have been so stupid to no have seen that it was the object in her nightmares that caused Alderaan's destruction. She herself had foreseen this very event, yet was blinded to its occurrence as it was happening. She suspected it was due to the blinding influence of The Dark Side that she had been under for close to a year. Leia looked over to where Epin was standing. If he hadn't said...

Epin frowned and ran his palm over his mouth, thinking of what he was going to do now. Find a Black Manka branch somewhere and start fighting again he supposed, as it was the only thing he knew. Perhaps he could use his abilities for more lucrative ventures in the drug trade, or spice smuggling as it was known. Perhaps he would join The Empire after all, as being on the side that possessed such a weapon as the one before him was surely not an unwise option. Epin felt a great sense of emptiness as there were so many things he wanted to do on Alderaan and now he would never be able to. For one thing, he wanted to punish Arod and his gang one last time using all of his powers to humiliate and demean them, as they had done to him so often. He also wanted to find out what happened to his sister, for she seemed to be under a sort of spell or something similar to what Leia had experienced. In that moment of victory over Rena, he felt as though he could sense her as he always had, a familiar feeling he remembered getting when they were children, yet not knowing at the time what it meant. His father could disintegrate in the blast for all he cared. His mother, well that was something else. Epin reflected that, in life, sometimes things went unanswered. Maybe someday he would find these things out. Yes, he had despised the planet somewhat, but it was still his home. Epin thought of people who had lost their homes due to the war with The Empire. Certainly the loss was great, but they still had a planet that was theirs. Well, if this weapon was going to be used again, perhaps even those planets would be taken eventually. He glanced over at Leia and saw that she had been watching him.

“Ep...I...” Leia began, swallowing hard before continuing. “About what you said down there...”

“I wasn't lying.” Said Epin turning his back on her and making his way to the stairs. “What reason would I have anyway, you were going to choke me to death.”

Leia saw the gouge in his back that she herself had put there, first while trying to stab him and next when ripping the flesh from his body. Maybe now wasn't the best time to talk after all. She sighed sadly as Epin began descending the stairs.

“I do too.” Leia said softly.

Alderaan Affair

Part XIX - Part XXI