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Who: Jaina
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: There's a new engineer joining the Bishop.
When: She might manage to wait five minutes after the latest shuffling.

The layout of these controls don't make any kind of sense. Not by any scheme I've seen on a ship, anyway.

[Yep, there is a teenager with her device propped on a nearby console, leaning elbows on another while she peers at it, intent. As she goes, she nearly taps buttons and levers, behaving enough not to actually muck with anything.]

It's not like snubfighter controls. Believe me, I know. But if this were anything like a Corellian YT-series I'd expect this to handle pitch, and...that should be yaw. Are the thrusters strictly forward? Maybe there's a z-axis control.

[These are all incorrect, and she seems to understand that. She chews her bottom lip, distracted with thought, before she finally turns her head to look directly into the camera again.]

How universal are the designs on these ships? I'm on Bishop, and there's a few things I can peg as customizations, but not too much. I've got a feeling I should try to learn as much as I can. Especially if I'm going to have to open a few of these panels up after a while to make sure it keeps working correctly.

[Admittedly, part of that feeling is the simple fact that regardless of the circumstances surrounding her presence in this fleet, she is stoked about learning the intricacies of a new style of ship.]

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[Meat-flavored. Jaina's expression twists and she is clearly thinking why would you.]

If it's gel, they could have done fruit-flavored. That would make it taste more like a decent snack.

[She's barely spent any time in the fleet and she already wants to reprogram and rebuild everything.]

There are fruit-flavored options as well. Those aren't so bad.

[The restaurant she's thinking of is just around the corner, and it doesn't take much time long for them to be shown to a table.

Once they're sitting, Leia folds her hands on the tabletop and leans forward a little. She's going off what I would want at that age and hoping it doesn't end too badly.]

I know this probably isn't what you expected, Jaina, but I want you to know. [This is harder to find the words for than she expected.] Just because we're from different times doesn't change who you are to me. If you ever--need anything, or if something's wrong--

[When they sit down, Jaina spends most of the time fidgeting in her seat. It's a weird combination of going out with family and also a stranger -- and it's hard to do something casual like lean elbows on the table, which she would like to do very much.

Also, what Leia says is quite emotionally charged. How do you talk to your mom about this?]

I'm glad. I mean -- let me start over.

Mom, I'm a young jedi knight. We can already do so much, even when people thought we should stay out of the way. But -- that is -- [Ah, she wishes she were making a holorecording so she could pause and reset it.] That does matter to me, too.

I'm sure you're capable. When I was your age, I was passing ships along to the Rebel Alliance.

[Which Jaina probably knows, she realizes suddenly--the things she did as a teenager might have become the stuff of childhood stories for her daughter. She knows so little about any of this, and while she has memories of her own mother to draw upon, she's not sure she can be the same kind of parent Breha was. She was a good woman, a good mother, someone Leia loved fiercely, but they were vastly different people.

Still, asking herself what would my mother say doesn't seem like a bad place to draw inspiration. She hopes this gets easier.]

But this is...it's not where any of us should be, and I know that can be hard. I don't want you to feel like you're alone here. [And then she can't help smiling a little.] There are a lot of people from our galaxy in the Fleet, actually. I'm sure you'll hear from them.

As long as I know Jacen's out there, I can't be alone.

[There's one thing Jaina can always be confident of, not that the girl has many confidence problems. She finally drops her hands in her lap, and stares across the table at Leia. Maybe she should have seen the age difference sooner, but it's easier now that she knows to look.]

It's not flying around with a star destroyer barreling down on us, but it's not the first time I've ended up in a strange place. We handled the Shadow Academy, so we can handle this. We just have to figure out how.

[Leia may be different, but Jaina appears certain that Leia will eventually have a way to act on the problem.]

Jacen?

[They have time and some semblance of privacy, sitting here together; it seems a better time to ask.]

I have a few ideas. [Dryly enough, though she's serious and sarcasm-free a moment later.] What I've tried hasn't worked so far, but something will. If there's a way to get us here, there has to be a way to get us back.

Jacen's my twin. Then Anakin's the little brother.

[It feels so weird to explain these things. So she's glad when Leia throws around a bit of dry wit and a confident statement. Mom saved and runs the galaxy; of course she's got this.]

Well, if there's anything I can do, count me in. I should know my way around the fleet in no time.

[Leia's ready to nod and smile at the thought of Jacen and Jaina. Twins--and twins who can grow up together. If only Luke was here to see it.

But then she mentions that she has a little brother, and a chill settles at the base of Leia's ribs. A little boy called Bail, she would understand. But to name a child after her first father...]

Anakin?

[A child named Anakin. She doesn't know where to begin to deal with that.]

[The whole rigamarole with Centerpoint Station aside, Anakin probably causes half as much trouble as the twins. Jaina decides it'd be better not to get into that right now.]

He's got a great mind for puzzles. We're all working on rebuilding the Great Temple, and he's been a pretty big help with figuring out what goes back where.

I see.

[She can hardly confide her own concerns--what in the world was she thinking, naming a son Anakin?--to a fourteen-year-old girl. Even if she wasn't directly responsible for Jaina, Leia doesn't think it should be her job to manage those concerns.]

He sounds...very bright. [Time to change the subject.] What does Jacen like to do?

[Jaina rolls her eyes, letting herself flop back against the chair. What does Jacen do? Only the most ridiculous things. There's a fondness to her exasperation at least.]

He finds the strangest animals and tells the worst jokes in the galaxy.

He's a big part of me. We have a bond.

[Leia grins at that. He sounds a little like Luke, if she's entirely honest.]

I'm glad you have each other. [And a little jealous, in a strange sort of way. What she wouldn't have given to have a twin--or rather, to know she had a twin--at that age.

They're interrupted briefly to order their food, but besides that, talking to Jaina is starting to go a little smoother.]

I should tell you--we do have other family here as well. [Her expression grows a little more serious.] Your...grandparents. Anakin and Padme.

[Jaina isn't terribly surprised at this point to hear her mother mention Anakin; a few people have mentioned it to her on video before they could meet up. But somehow no one has ever mentioned Padme to her. Somehow no one has ever figured out the maternal side of the Solo-Skywalker clan. Or if nothing else, no one who's figured it out has passed it on to the kids.

She's a little stunned.]

I have a grandmother.

[She doesn't really know what to say, what to ask. Just. She has a grandmother. Blaster bolts, this is how mom feels, isn't it?]

If you didn't, you wouldn't have a mother. [A little dryly. But Leia can't blame her surprise; she still finds it strange to think of going twenty-three years without knowing her family and suddenly finding them. That they all ought to be dead doesn't help with the shock.] Her name is Padme Amidala--she was a senator to the Republic before the Empire, and a queen.

[In all honesty, she'd be sorry to realize that she never told her children about her mother. Perhaps that one memory felt too personal too share, or perhaps she simply didn't have the information necessary.]

If you want to meet them...[Please don't--at least, not Anakin]...bring Han or me with you, all right? Don't go alone.

[She's amused for the joke. Forget propriety, she's going to lean on an elbow on the table. It's great to finally learn more about her heritage. More importantly, it's great to learn more that isn't bogged down in 'your grandparent tortured me on the Death Star, and then on Cloud City your grandfather tortured your dad, and then your grandfather tortured Chewie, and then...']

So that's why you're Princess Leia. And you're just like her.

[Because Leia had been in politics early in the rebellion, if Jaina remembers correctly, not to mention what's happened since. Her expression betrays a stubborn feeling when Leia tells her not to go see them on her own, though she kind of understands why it's being said. The invicibility of youth. Well, if it's safety Leia's worried about, Jaina's got a practical argument.]

No offense, Mom, but between the three of us, I'm the best trained to handle things with another Jedi.

Not...exactly. [But Leia's amused, too. Surely Jaina already knows the answer to the question why is my mother a princess] But it's an interesting coincidence.

[Or proof that royalty of the galaxy rubs elbows, anyway.

Her expression grows more serious at Jaina's protestations, though, and she shakes her head.]

You're also fourteen years old. I'm not going to make a lot of rules about what you can and can't do, because [you aren't even really my daughter yet, how could I?] you can obviously take care of yourself, but please follow this one. Okay?

[Frowning while she considers this stuff. Bail was a senator, she knows that, and Leia had fond but vague memories of her own mother. The exact origin of royal status was always a little fuzzy to her. And, honestly, not too much of a priority.

On the more pressing issue, Leia picks the right tactic. She tries not to have any hard feelings about some of the restrictions her mother tends to give (still no ship of her own!) but acknowledging Jaina as capable helps.]

I understand.

[It's an acknowledgement, but not necessarily a promise. The young jedi knights have gone behind adult's backs before, and she's not really ready to rule anything out.]

Uncle Luke taught us how his father was redeemed. If there's always been good in him, don't we have to help him now?

[A genuine question, to a certain extent. Would it even do any good to interfere? When it was Jaina's turn to bring someone back from the dark side, her performance worked but hadn't exactly been stellar, either.]

[Jaina's kept it together remarkably well, considering she's been dragged into another galaxy filled with people from a variety of times and places, including parents who don't know her. It's clear enough she's her mother's daughter--and her father's.

Unfortunately for Leia, this is her first time doing the parenting thing, and I understand sounds enough like I promise in this context that she doesn't question it. Maybe in twenty years, she's cannier about this stuff--and more importantly, more familiar with her daughter's tendency to do what she thinks needs to be done--but for now, she assumes this means she has Jaina's agreement.

Her brows knit into a frown when Jaina speaks again.]

That's a good question. [One she's been asking herself--and Han--as well. What's the point of any of this if they don't do something about Anakin?]

The truth is...I don't know. [A sigh.] It might be possible to keep him from falling, but it might make things worse. [Don't put too much of this on Jaina, whispers a voice at the back of her head, but Leia's not sure what qualifies as too much in this case.] All I know for certain is that it would change everything.

[She'll do it if she needs to! This will lead to so much drama in her adulthood.]

We can't know it'd change anything except our family. More people helped the Emperor carry out his purge than just Darth Vader. Maybe Anakin Skywalker could have stopped him back then instead of on the Death Star, but maybe not.

That's true--we can't. But even if some of us might be willing to make that sacrifice... [Well, she already knows Han isn't.] Do you understand that you're proposing something that would ensure you'd never exist?

[Which can certainly be arranged in other ways as well ~~just ask Disney~~, but Leia's not sure Jaina really understands the ramifications of the idea. And when it comes down to it, she's not sure she can ask Han to sacrifice his life for that of billions.]

[That's weird to think about, but is it any weirder than the rest of this? She's re-meeting her entire family. She doesn't know her dad's stance, but she's only a few years off from becoming unhealthily comfortable with putting her life on the line for others.]

Well, I'd prefer to keep existing. But if what we do here changes things, it's a little late to worry about it. The bantha's already out of the pen and stampeding.

And in that case, what about Alderaan?

[Leia sighs, resisting the urge to rest her head in her hand. Bringing up Alderaan especially isn't playing fair, and she can't imagine any daughter of hers could get to age fourteen without realizing that.]

Believe me, I've been asking myself the same thing. If it were up to me alone, I'd do it. [She pauses, taking in the sight of her daughter. The eeriness of seeing her eyes in someone else's face hasn't yet abated, and now it's accompanied by the uncomfortable knowledge that she just told her daughter that she'd erase her existence if the decision was hers to make.] But it isn't, and asking Ha--your father to give up his life for a chance at shortening the war? A chance we don't know won't lead to worse things?

[Been there, done that, in no mood to revisit the argument at this point.]

We can't know what trying to change the future would do to the galaxy. We need to tread carefully.

[Alderaan is the obvious thing that could change, the obvious big benefit. If she's arguing for trying to make positive changes, how can she not bring it up? Jaina loves some practical problemsolving, after all.

She's going to do her best to ignore that her mother is hammering home that this course of action (and unsaid, by logical extension all of this, this whole situation) would probably erase her. Someone needs to try keeping some optimism in the mix.]

Promise to use my best judgment. Getting everyone back is probably the priority anyway.

That's right. [And talking about going home is a much less divisive topic, with no need for comments like if Han hadn't run into Luke, he wouldn't have had a reason to join the rebellion.] I've met a few people who don't mind being here, but the majority want to go home. We have a responsibility to get ourselves back to our galaxy--and to help everyone else do the same, if we can.

[It's a secondary concern, as mercenary as it feels to admit it. But if they can, Leia will absolutely help the others around them escape.]

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