Hours of mind-numbing labor later, we managed to restart the reactor. I had to guess my way through the startup procedure, which prompted several inquiries from Thayer about evacuating the palace. I’d been well trained in the process…ten years ago. I never expected to need it, much less to do it without a manual or droid assistance.
As the reactor came online all the lights in the Batcave came on, the climate control system hummed to life and the ready light on the computer core’s control panel glowed. The extra light didn’t improve the look of the place any, and I began to despair that after so many hours we hadn’t even begun the cleanup process.
“I suppose I can tell the royal fire marshal to stand down now,” Thayer said as the lights came on.
“There is no royal fire marshal,” I said.
“Perhaps there should be,” he said, “if Terra Group will be taking up residence once again.”
We climbed the stairs from the reactor control room, the absolute lowest point in the palace, back up to the hangar. Air circulated in the expansive space and the humidity was already beginning to fall. Just in time, too, because the sea life stranded when the water was pumped out was already beginning to rot.
“Now if only I could order an army of droids to clean the place up,” I said as we surveyed the disaster before us.
Back up the main hallway behind us the elevator dinged to announce its arrival. I was thrilled to hear it after walking up and down countless stairs all day. I was even happier to see Becki and Lenka step out of it with Prince Riehn, Princess Cordelia, and our twins Jacob and Isabelle in tow. Becki carried a sleepy looking Princess Minerva in her arms. The twins and their royal playmates raced right by us in their hurry to stare in open-mouthed wonder at the cavernous hangar.
“I thought we might find you down here,” Lenka said as she put her arm around me. “Ew, what have you two been doing?” she asked as she leaned away from me. “Wrestling pigs?”
‘We’ve been doing real man’s work down here, woman,” I said, pasting a mock-stern expression on my face and my fist on my hip. We all dissolved into laughter at the dubious expression that passed between Lenka and Becki.
“We saw that the elevator was working again,” Becki said. With a mournful look around she continued, “This place seems a little worse for wear.”
“Daddy, why does it stink so bad in here?” Isabelle asked. Like Lenka’s cousin for whom she was named, my Izzybelle didn’t hold back her opinions.
“This place was filled with ocean water and fish for a long time, baby,” I said. “It will smell better when it’s cleaned up.”
“Where are we?” Jake asked. “The basement of the castle?”
“Well, in a way,” Lenka said. “This is where Daddy and I and Becki worked back when we lived in Mendellia.”
“Wow! You worked in here?” asked a horrified Isabelle.
“It didn’t look or smell like this back then,” Becki assured her.
“You’ve been here before,” I said to the twins. “A long time ago. Back when you were Minnie’s age.”
The two-year-old princess resting on her mother’s hip gave an expansive yawn at the mention of her name. “Did you have any luck contacting the rest of Terra Group?” her father asked.
“Some more than others. Mike’s on his way, and we got messages to a few of the others. Not nearly all of them though,’ Becki said.
“I see you found us a place to work,” Lenka said. “I was expecting an old storage shed in the royal gardens or something. Looks like the old place is going to need some remodeling though.”
“No kidding,” I said. “We were just about to start cleaning.” My tone carried a clear message that they were welcome to help.
Thayer made a show of looking at his watch and said, “I propose that we break here for the evening and pick up again in the morning.” Then with a glance at his younger daughter, now asleep on her mother’s shoulder, he added, “We’ve already worked Princess Minerva beyond her limit.”
“And it was a rather early morning too,” Lenka siad. “Might we borrow some of your guest rooms for tonight?”
“I have a better idea,” he said. “I took the liberty of sending some of the domestic staff to your house to get it ready for you. You can spend the night in your own home, if you’d like.”
“Thayer, that’s wonderful. Thank you so much,” I said. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“It was the least I could do.”
The thought of falling asleep in our own bed with the waters of Lake Atner gently sloshing against the shore brought the early wake up and the full day of labor crashing down on me, and I sagged against the nearest wall.
“I’ll have someone drive you there,” Thayer added.
We trooped back to the elevator as a group, the royal family in the lead followed by Lenka holding Isabelle’s hand and me holding Jake’s. On the way we passed the conference room where I first met Lenka, back when she was Thayer’s personal assistant and his mother’s lady-in-waiting. I looked over the family we’d built since that inauspicious beginning and marveled that we’d somehow gotten here from that day.
That first time we met I insulted her rather badly.
The second time I had all but ignored her.
The third time I shot her. Yes, quite a wonder that we ended up here.
Come to think of it, our fourth meeting didn’t go so well either.
——
I really meant to be there when Lenka woke up in the New Republic military hospital on Coruscant. Somebody had to explain where she was and how she got there, and since it was entirely my fault I felt that the responsibility was mine. Her last memory was of being shot, back on Earth. She had no idea that the rest of the galaxy as I knew it even existed.
Just to be safe I’d left Hyper with her, holding a message from me in case she awoke when I wasn’t there. I also left strict instructions with the hospital staff that if she regain consciousness only human personnel should interact with her until I returned. Those were wise precautions, as it turned out. Between reporting in to General Cracken, visiting some old friends, an unexpectedly joining Rogue Squadron to fight a band of pirates, I was several thousand lights years away when the call came in that she was awake and demanding an explanation.
The trip back to Coruscant took four days. Four days in which I imagined every possible disaster. The hospital slipping up and sending a Mon Calamari into her room. Hyper being a little too helpful and answering the wrong questions. Hell, even a look out the window would give her quite a shock.
I was quite out of breath when I arrived at the hospital from the landing pad. The nurse I checked in with gave me a look of sympathy - or maybe pity - when I told him who I was there to see. “She’s been very anxious to speak to you, Lieutenant. Good luck in there.”
With that unsettling send off fresh in my mind I slipped through the door into Lenka’s hospital room. My first glance around allayed some of my worst fears. Hyper whistled a pleasant greeting at me. The blast shutters were still firmly closed over the windows, and no hard-to-explain Holonet News played on the vid screen.
Then I saw Lenka herself and all the reassurance I’d gained fell away. She sat up in her bed, her wounds covered by her hospital garments. She was pale and her hair hung limply on her head. She still managed an expression that would melt duranium.
“Lieutenant,” she said in a tone that made me feel like a first-year cadet again, “I want some answers.”
It’s simple, really. I shot you, then dragged you halfway across the galaxy so that a man-sized magic squid could undo what I did. “I’m sure you do. What have they told you so far?”
“Nothing! The robot-” she said with a gesture at Hyper, “-played your message saying you would be right back.”
“Oh good, you got the message then.”
“A week ago!”
“I’m sorry about. I was…asked to join another mission.”
“Were there any future queens on this mission?”
I plunged ahead before the sting of her jab could sink in. “Have you been told anything since you woke up?”
“All they’ve told me is that I’m in a medical facility associated with Terra Group. Which isn’t reassuring, all things considered. Does Lord Thayer know where I am? I demand to speak to him immediately.”
“We can arrange that, but it will take some time. I’m not his favorite person right now.”
“I would imagine not!”
“You have to understand, Lady Leannan, you were badly injured in Jerusalem.”
“By you!”
“Yes, by me. You needed medical care that you couldn’t get at home.”
“Where am I then?”
“This is going to be a lot to take in.”
“Just answer the question!”
“There are some things about Terra Group that I need to explain.”
“Are you holding me prisoner?”
“What? Of course not! This is going to be hard to believe, but-”
“Lieutenant, enough! Where on Earth am I?”
“Actually, you’re not on Earth. You’re not even in our solar system.”
“Please, Lieutenant, don’t-” she began as I crossed the room to her window. She fell silent when I hit the button to retract the blast shield.
Outside a brilliant orange sunset lit up Coruscant’s sky. Streams of traffic crisscrossed among mile-high skyscrapers. In the distance stood the dome of the Galactic Senate. A cruiser hovered over the hospital, ferrying patients down in a steady stream of shuttles. One floor below the window a bridge connected the hospital to the transit hub across the street. The bridge was packed with Twi-leks, Wookiees, Rodians, Bothans, and Zabraks, some close enough that you could almost touch them.
Lenka couldn’t tear her eyes away from the view out the window as she said, “I think you’d better start at the beginning.”