The tournament was over and my time at Cloud City was complete. A couple of the rebel leaders had sent messages to my room, expressing an interest in whatever services or goods I could provide to them. They supplied me with communication channels and some other ways of contacting them, as well as other members of their movements.
I decided that the best thing to do would be to try getting a job from the Alderaanians. I knew them and they knew me, so I could get a job that best fit me. I had one small task to take care of before I did so though.
The coordinates I had given Han were for the Sol system…Earth. I wanted to be sure that their defenses were aware that he might be stopping by.
I made the jump back to Earth. I noticed the changes to the hyperdrive, since the trip took a couple hours shorter than my trip 3 weeks ago. Once I was in-system, I started scanning, and quickly found the Earth ISD, sitting about halfway between the Earth/Mars orbit. I quickly established communications with the ship, using a very low frequency, since a signal in the low AM band could be read by Earth, but Imperial technology didn’t even bother with it anymore.
“Gaea to mother. Gaea to mother. Come in mother Earth.” I said into the open channel. I then repeated the message. It was too quiet, and I quickly got nervous. I checked my scanners again. The ISD was intact. There weren’t any new scratches on her, so there hadn’t been a battle, and the current battle scars were a clear indication. I had made some of them.
“Gaea, this is Earth Defensive Ship Freedom. We are receiving you. Welcome home. Ship’s officers have been apprised of your arrival and someone will be waiting to greet you when you dock on board.” The silence was broken and I felt a lot better.
I was soon landing on the main deck of the ISD. As I began lowering the ramp, I could see that it was General Johnson that was waiting for me on deck. Walking down the ramp, I quickly saluted to him and he returned the salute.
“Welcome home. Come, we must talk. So much has happened since you left.” He said.
I was surprised. How much could happen in 15 days?? Then I realized that if a single alien delegate arrived in system, it could be considered exciting. I had been flying around now for close to 4 galactic months, 9 Earth months.
I was escorted from the hangar to the captain’s quarters. As we walked through the ship, what I saw was almost incredible. All the uniforms were the same, but there had to be at least 20-30 different flags on the shoulders of them. There were 20-30 countries contributing military personnel to the effort. It felt really good to know that the peace had held, even if it had only been a month. It was still a step in the right direction.
When we arrived, I found there was a meal waiting for us. We sat and began to eat.
“You have no idea how long it’s been since I had a meal I felt safe biting into. Never knowing if a food was going to be too spicy, too salty, too anything. I’d be lying if I told you I finished every meal I bought. I did learn one very interesting fact, though. Its something I heard once on a sci-fi TV show called Babylon 5. Every race does seem to have its own version of Swedish meatballs. I must have ordered them half a dozen times while I was gone, and all from different restaurants.” I began.
General Johnson just looked at me with a look of bizarre interest on his face.
“So, “ I continued, “what’s been going on here? You said a lot had happened.”
“Yes I did. We’ve had visitors from a number of different planets. Some of them were human, others were not. Let me see.” He produced a small notepad from his shirt pocket. “Alderaan, Sullust, Duro, Chandrila, Yag’Dhul, Bimm. All of them came to see what we had in trade. It’s a good thing that those Rebellion members brought us a couple protocol droids before they left. The language barrier would have been impossible to tackle.”
“And what of Earth? Is the existence of this ship and the rest of the galaxy still hidden from the general populace? I imagine the truth has to come out eventually. People with their small telescopes are going to find this ship.” I asked.
The general had an answer the surprised me somewhat.
“Well, it’s been more than 60 years, and they still don’t know the whole truth about Roswell. This whole thing has been sewn up much better than that was.”
That floored me. I could have asked him what he could tell me, but I decided against getting that discussion started.
We continued to talk for a couple hours. I told him about the tournament, how the timeline seems to be keeping together, made sure to remember about Han. He gave me more details about the work on Earth. The energy weapon technology I had brought from Tatooine had been duplicated, but would be slow to see use. Scientists had already “discovered” the technology needed for advanced fusion power generation. It would be another 6 months of “testing”, and then 6 months of “construction” before the first power generator would be put on the power grid.
The next day, after dinner and a good nights sleep, I made my way to the Freedom’s holonet transceiver and contacted Alderaan. I was greeted by Bail.
Bail started the conversation. “Hello. What can I do for my friend from Earth?”
”Well, actually I was so happy when I got the chance to meet Winter and her friends on Cloud City, and I wanted to see what I could do to help you, if you know what I mean.”
It appeared as though it took him only a split second to understand.
“Ah, I see. Winter’s little trade conference. Well, if your planet would like to open trade with Alderaan, it would be best to setup such an arrangement in person rather than over the holonet. A certain personal touch is best when doing such things.”
He wanted to get off the holonet and remove the possibility of the conversation being tapped into.
“Alright, that sounds fine. I can be there shortly if you have the time for me. By the way, I wanted to thank you for the holonet transceiver. Its come in very handy and I’m sure it will continue to do so for a long time into the future. Good-bye.”
“I should have a clear schedule when you arrive. Good-bye.”
I shut down the transceiver. After letting General Johnson know what was happening, I made a quick trip around the ship to get some things I thought I may need, then I returned to my ship and left. I headed straight for Alderaan. I was ready for an official Rebellion assignment.
As we flew, I wondered what kind of mission it could be. I began to hope for smuggling, escort or maybe an attack mission. I wanted something that could be exciting.
It wasn’t long before I arrived on Alderaan, and my reception was not unlike the first I’d received when I first visited the planet.
“Greetings Bail. It is always a pleasure to visit beautiful Alderaan. And I always get a fine reception when I arrive.”
Bail seemed to chuckle under his breath. Just as before, I was invited to join the Viceroy for some refreshments and I had the chance to share with Bail my experiences on Bespin.
“I heard almost immediately after the meeting about what you did. It was foolish and could have gotten you shot, but it sounded like you were going to end up with trouble anyways. Leaders in the rebellion don’t rise to become leaders, nor do they stay leaders very long if they trust any average person that says they want to join.”
“I understand that completely. I was taking a risk no matter what by attending, what was a little more risk if it meant they would begin to trust me. With that in mind, I was hoping I might be able to perform some work that might help further that trust. Are there any rebellion missions I may be able to either do or participate in?”
Bail began to think. After a few moments,