Leia didn't bother to argue over the finer points of the description. It was petty and she knew it.
"I'm sorry, Leia," Mon said, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"If it's any consolation, he fooled us all for a long time," Madine added.
Leia turned stony eyes on him. "No. No, it's not."
"The matter seems...laid to rest now," Ackbar said into the silence. "Damage control would seem our new priority. We should look to change any codes and contact protocols as quickly as possible. Did he have access to our own agents' names and locations?"
"Some," Madine admitted. "He also piloted for my Special Ops unit occasionally. We'd already begun recalling some field agents--as a precaution, of course." He glanced at Leia as he added the last, though she had no scorn left.
"Is it likely to impact our own intelligence-gathering?" Mon asked, all business.
"To a degree." Madine said. "Recalled agents will have to be replaced, which will take time, though we rely on the Bothans a great deal nowadays. They keep to their own networks as you know, and since we have no details of their particulars, he had none either. We've alerted them though, and any which he had contact with are being reassigned."
And so the conversation went on around Leia, and everything was tied off, everything resolved. Everyone rolling over the one vital fact...that one of the closest people in her life--someone whom she'd trusted implicitly, whom she would have given her life to protect--was a lie.
He had broken faith, had beguiled and misled. He'd sold her out; had befriended her specifically intending to do that.
The words of the Imperial pilot in the transport at Cat Dato floated into her mind. She'd asked him where Luke was and though he hadn't recognized Luke as a prisoner, he'd clearly realized who she was speaking about. Now, in hindsight, the emphasis in his words--as if believing she'd sought an enemy--made perfect sense. "Yeah, I bet you'd like to get your hands on him."
He'd known...he'd known Luke was an Imperial operative.
Was it all true, then? The Commander, the apartments...his lineage? The Bothans had said that he was the son of someone highly placed in the Emperor's personal retinue, and she knew...she knew what he could do. Leia remained silent, completely lost as to what to do.
"I think we should wrap this up for the time being. Perhaps we could have a meeting of the senior members of the staff to agree on a course of action, once we've all internalized this," Mon said mildly into the silence.
"I would...question the advisability of making this common knowledge," Ackbar murmured uneasily. "The resultant fallout would be highly destructive both in terms of morale and our reputation."
"Of course. Perhaps we should bring our suggestions to the meeting tonight?"
There was a murmur of agreement, no one wishing to dwell on the moment right now. No one wishing to meet Leia's eyes, she realized. The room emptied in silence, leaving only Leia and the Com Chief behind.
He moved uneasily, hands clasped together. "We'll still go through them, ma'am, every one," the Rodian offered at last, voice thin and reedy. "This might not be what it seems, we may all be jumping to conclusions."
"Thank you, Leemarit." What else could she say? She'd never really liked the Com Chief, he'd always just...put her on edge, before. Now, he seemed like her only ally.
Did she need one at this point, Leia considered...or was it all academic, in the face of facts?
Still, the Com Chief paused, not wishing to leave it there. "I... I don't think...well, I knew the Commander. By reputation mostly but...he was a good man, a good pilot. Good C.O. He cared about his people, his command. I can't believe he'd do this, Ma'am. It's not who he was."
Leia looked to the wiry Rodian, wanting to believe him.
He shook his head, huge eyes blinking quickly. "This is just one thing, Ma'am, it's just one thing. I know it seems pretty damning, I'm not blind. But...it's only one thing. I just...I'd want something else. To believe it was him, I'd need to know something else. Big as this is, it's not enough alone."
He looked away, looked back to her, then walked quietly out.
Leia walked in silence back to her quarters, the buzz of activity onboard ship a distant ghost. When she arrived, she stood for a long time in the darkness just staring out at the stars, hand to her mouth.
Because she knew...she knew it wasn't just one thing. She knew what she'd seen in the Palace and been so quick to dismiss, at the time.
It took over four hours of gut-wrenching uncertainty before she decided...
Eventually she sighed, a long, low, tired sigh. Very calmly, she walked from the room, heading for Mon's office, knowing she had to tell the truth. Much as it tore at her to do so.
This was too big and too important not to, and she was too close to it to make a rational decision.
Because even now, even with every damning piece of proof, she still wondered...
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To be continued...
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Chapter 10
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CHAPTER TEN
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Weeks floated seamlessly into each other for Luke, hours marked out by the pages of the endless books he read, days by the grinding repetitive monotony within them.
Every single day, around midday, the medic Hallin came to check him, only staying a short time but always friendly, strangely open and conversational given their association, quite willing to make inane small talk and seeming genuinely sociable in a professional, polite manner, though less eager to be drawn any further. Aside from Han's weekly visits, it was the only other non-confrontational conversation Luke had, and he couldn't help but try to get some sense of the bigger picture from the medic every single visit.
"And how is my charge today?" Hallin asked genially, lifting his handheld general scanner from his bag and stepping forwards.
"Pretty much the same as the last seven weeks," Luke said easily, taking the time to study the slight, diminutive man as he concentrated on the medical scanner held out before him.
"And how's life in the fast lane?" Hallin queried, eyes on the readout.
"Oh, you know, not a minute to myself," Luke said dryly then, searching to tap the medic for information without seeming too obvious, "How's life in the real world?"
"I wouldn't know," the medic said distantly, still studying the readout. "They don't really let us out much."
Luke raised his eyebrows. "Really? I can't imagine how that must feel."
"How's the reading going?" Hallin asked, glancing to the book left open, face-down on the parquetry-inlaid table beside them, neatly ignoring the underlying meaning of Luke's quip.
"Well, I finished the last book in the bookcase yesterday and when I got up this morning, there was a whole new set there. It's like a kind of magic."
"Perhaps the 'book fairy' came," Hallin said lightly.
"It could've left me a couple of credits," Luke replied in kind. "Or maybe just a note saying 'well done'."