Chapter Seventeen The Company
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The Company
The Starfarer arrived at Naboo, but because the palace was currently under renovation, we had arranged to have a special guest speaker—Sosha Soruna, the ruler of Naboo during the fall of the Empire—meet us planetside.
Instead, she wanted to come up to visit the Starfarer.
Afterward we would take a shuttle tour down to a Gungan city, enjoy a seafood-heavy lunch, and shuttle the guests back up to the ship for dinner.
Sosha Soruna arrived on the Starfarer with little aplomb and even less security, flanked only by an assistant and a single guard.
If I hadn’t known who the older woman was, in her lovely crimson flying jacket, trousers, and supple boots, I’d have guessed she was a civilian.
Her black hair, now peppered gray with age, was pulled back into a simple bun, her face barren except for a thick line of makeup that went from her bottom lip to the tip of her chin.
She smiled when she arrived, and hugged my dad. “It’s so nice to finally meet you in person, Hansifred,” she said warmly, “and I’m so glad we could make this work. When Ms. Kotti reached out about this opportunity, I had to jump at the chance.”
“You honor us with your presence, Lady Sosha,” he replied, kissing the back of her hand, and led her to the meet and greet in the main chamber.
It was about thirty minutes of Lady Sosha recounting her days during the war, and her efforts to protect Naboo, and the years that followed. Afterward, quite a few of the Civil War Buffs hung around to ask her more complex questions.
I was posted in the main chamber to help facilitate, stifling a yawn a few times from my long night on the flight deck.
When the last of the young men approached her, he came on hard and fast, gushing about some Operation: Cinder military action that happened years ago and how “the passage of time has left you timeless”—which was such a smooth line, I had to admit—before he pulled a piece of flimsiplast from his pocket to hand to her.
I intercepted it and politely told Spectacles, “I’ll keep it for her.”
His shoulders slumped. “O-oh. All right…”
Lady Sosha thanked him, and after all the guests had been seen to, she asked to be excused to the refresher. I escorted her to the closest one and cleared the room before she went in, then guarded the door. When she was done, she washed her hands and inspected her reflection in the mirror.
“The guests on the Starfarer are so lovely,” she commented. “I appreciate their enthusiasm.”
I winced, knowing she was referring to Spectacles. “Sorry about that one guy. He’s one of those Galactic Civil War buffs. He sort of is really into this part of history.”
She didn’t seem bothered by him at all. “He was very excited. Let me see the letter?” she added, motioning to the pocket where I’d stowed it.
I handed it to her. The flimsliplast looked familiar—likely from a guest room.
Delightedly, Lady Sosha unfolded the letter, read it, and gave a riotous laugh. “The bravery of some men!” she cried.
Alarmed, I looked at the flimsiplast. It was…“A love letter? I am so sorry,” I added, mortified. “I promise that will never happen again—”
“No, no, what an honor! Truly, even age doesn’t deter some people,” she said, and immediately—but not unkindly—ripped the letter up. “What a lovely thing for him to say, even if it’s quite absurd.”
I realized then that I didn’t know much about Sosha Soruna other than her life as a monarch and her brief time before that as a skilled pilot. After, I had assumed she returned to everyday civilian life, but by the blaster pistol at her hip…maybe not so much.
Then she said, as if reading the furrow of my eyebrows as confusion, “I don’t quite like men as my paramours.”
My eyes widened. “Oh.” It didn’t help that my voice came out in a squeak. And that just made me feel mortified. “Oh, stars, I didn’t—did I sound—I didn’t mean to—”
She laughed again, tossing the remains of the letter into the trash.
“It’s fine, my friend. I didn’t find out until much later in life.
” She cocked her head. “I was about your age when I assumed the throne of Naboo. It was impossible to think of anything other than saving my people. For years, even after the war. I must admit I’m a little jealous of people who found love during it. Leia, and your father, too.”
Leia—“As in Leia Organa?” I asked before I could stop myself.
I hadn’t realized they knew each other, or were close. My father certainly hadn’t met any of the big players in the war, and the way he told it, he was very much a part of it. But the war had been big, with a lot of fronts.
Lady Sosha nodded. “The same. Though most of my ruling years feel transient at this point. I wasn’t a part of anyone’s life long enough to be anything.” A thoughtful look crossed her face. “What’s it like living on this ship? You were raised on it, yes?”
“It’s…nice. I get to see everything. And I’m safe here,” I added, because that was what Dad always told me.
You’re safe on this ship with me, he assured, as if the rest of the galaxy was full of cruel intentions.
But safe, I was beginning to realize, wasn’t the same as happy.
“That sounds quiet,” she said gently. “I’m glad you can have this kind of life. It’s the kind a lot of us worked for, and died for, and yet there is still work to do.” She drew a small metal card from her pocket and pressed it into my hand. “If you ever need anything, send a bird.”
I frowned. “A…bird?”
“A message,” she went on. “I’ll be more than happy to answer, Ardent Quay. Until then”—she gathered my hands in hers and squeezed them tightly—“may the Force be with you.”
She left the refresher and returned to her security and assistant in the main chamber, who walked her back to the shuttle they’d arrived on.
I put the contact card into my uniform jacket, not sure when I would ever call up the ex-ruler of an entire planet, but the thought was nice—almost doting. I bit the inside of my cheek to hide a smile. I wondered if this was, a little, what it felt like to have a mom.
After Lady Sosha left, we gathered the guests who had signed up for the Naboo excursion.
Most of the crew—especially Dad—loved going planetside with them, and usually I went, too, but when I saw that Val had elected to stay behind, I volunteered to crew the bridge with Telly.
I’d watch the video feeds (and keep our stowaway secret, since he had a penchant for wandering).
But really, the goal was to monitor my brother and where, in fact, he was snooping.
I didn’t exactly think he was worried about Sian taking me away, but if he was poking around, then he was suspicious of something, and I really didn’t want him finding my stowaway and telling Dad.
For the Naboo excursion, Dad rented a large shuttle and took the guests to tour a Gungan city and have lunch. I situated myself in the copilot’s chair and snacked on Dad’s secret stash of obessa seeds, thoughtfully flipping Lady Sosha’s card over in my hand.
What a strange day.
Telly wasn’t the most talkative crew member, but she was most easily the one who could sense my moods from a kilometer away.
Maybe she could taste my sourness after years of tenaciously silent observation.
Whatever it was, while we sat on the bridge, Telly turned directly to me and said, “Do you want to talk about it?”
I glanced at her, pocketing the card again. “About…?”
Telly blinked slowly. While she wasn’t the most talkative, when she did talk, it was with purpose. She wasn’t about to let this go. “The boy you are keeping in the pantry.”
My eyes widened. “I—I don’t—who…who do you mean?” My voice was a squeak by the end.
She drummed her fingers on the console. “Do you really think you could smuggle an entire man onto the ship without me knowing, Ardent Quay?”
My shoulders slumped. Oh, she’d used my whole name. That meant trouble. “Is it that obvious?”
“To me? Yes. Entoo has been very liberal with their video feed disruptions. Who is he?”
“Just…a stowaway. He’s harmless.” I hoped.
“Why didn’t you tell us about him, then?”
“Because…” I frowned. Honestly, I could have told my father and the crew, and I’m sure they would have very happily brought him aboard if they knew the circumstances. No one here was a friend of the First Order.
However…
“The First Order was after him on Coruscant, and I was afraid to tell anyone else when I brought him aboard because I didn’t want to put them in danger, too,” I admitted.
Telly studied me. “And you’re sure it was First Order?”
“I think so.”
“Do you know what they wanted with him?”
I didn’t answer. I had told Sian I wouldn’t tell anyone about the lightsaber, and although he’d said awful things to me, I wasn’t going to betray him. “He needed help. Dad always said to help the people we can, so I did. Would you mind not telling anyone?”
“Not my business,” replied Telly, turning back to look out the viewport. “But you really need to hide him better.” Then she leaned over and pushed a button on the video console. The feeds went dark. “Oh, no,” she deadpanned, “whatever will we do? The video feeds are corrupted.”
I snorted. “I get it.”
She replied, ever monotonous, “Good.”