The Heart of the Galaxy: A Star Wars Story (with Legends)

Chapter 19 - Two Plans

Dev and Alora stood on the Hill watching the ships settle in a loose circle.

"Sometimes I don't know if I can really be a Jedi."

"Of course, you can, Dev," Alora caught Dev's hand and squeezed it.

He shook his head sadly. "I'm no good at fighting unless I get angry. You know what happened on Mersia. I wish I could center myself the way Master Ezra does."

"You're not Ezra. You're you- Dev Sibwarra."

"Thanks, but that doesn't really make me feel better. Being Master Ezra or Master Luke would be much grander than being Dev."

"That's where you're wrong. You can't be Ezra or Master Luke or anyone else. You have to be the Jedi you were meant to be and do what only you can do." She looked up at him, eyes earnest and pleading.

Dev managed a faint smile. "You're right, as always." He met her eyes, his own softening tenderly. "But do you know what is truly grand? Being you, Alora."

He placed his free hand on her cheek and they stood for a long moment in companionable silence. They were both startled from their reverie by a pair of strong hands clapping down on their shoulders. Turning, they found themselves looking into Rex's twinkling eyes. He tried to frown and failed.

"Young man, I think now is as good a time as any to ask you what your intentions are toward my daughter."

Alora looked back to Dev, wondering if her father's blunt inquiry would cause her friend to close up again.

Dev drew a deep breath and Alora could feel him calling on the Force to center himself. "My intention is to marry her, with your permission, sir. When she's old enough, that is. And after that, I suppose we'll have a family and travel the Galaxy being Jedi together."

The smile Rex had been fighting finally won and he beamed at the young couple. "I was hoping you 'd say that. Now come on, we've got a lot of work to do."

Ahsoka watched as her husband led Alora and Dev into the Malreaux's spacious parlour. Dev was blushing furiously. Alora was smiling shyly. Rex was beaming broadly.

As the threesome joined the war council, Alora leaned over to whisper in her mother's ear. "Dev asked to marry me and Dada says we can when I'm old enough."

"Congratulations, you two. But since you're only seventeen, I think it's going to be a year or two," Ezra teased his young friend.

"Do you approve, Master Luke?" Dev asked anxiously.

"Of course," Luke assured him.

"All right, Lovebirds," Rex chuckled, "I'm afraid we have to get down to business now."

Luke nodded. "Han, would you share what you found?"

"Well, like I keep saying, you Jedi need me. Chewie and me took the Falcon for a spin around the edge of the system. We found the covers, all right, like Ben said, but there is one weak spot in the blanket where ships can get through."

"So Agati will be able to get his ships to Kyber," Luke added, "and we obviously can't take on his fleet with just our four ships. Admiral Bwua'tu has a fleet en-route but they will arrive after Agati."

Han smirked. "I don't know- that wily Bothan just might find a shortcut."

"Nek will do his best, but even with his penchant for doing the impossible we still have to be prepared to make a stand on our own." Luke gestured to the holo-display Leia's little droid Lola was projecting on a table in the middle of the room. "The Bothans were able to obtain these images of Agati's ships. The Admiral also included a rundown of the star destroyers accompanying Agati's fleet."

He had Lola flip through the images, pausing to discuss each droid ship's capabilities. "As you can see, about half are meant for space or air battles only and the other half are capable of launching a ground assault as well." Lola switched to the next image and a collective gasp filled the room.

"That's one of ours," Sabine whispered, eyes wide. "A New Republic ship, I mean."

"Looks that way," Rex moved to examine the holo more closely. "That's the New Day!" he hissed. "One of our best. I did hear she got a new captain, though. Wonder if that was courtesy of our 'friend'."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Ezra was staring out the window again. "I think we understand our enemy pretty well. We need to understand ourselves now."

Han held up his hands. "Look, if you think you're gonna involve me in your weird Jedi meditating thing, you got another thing coming. Leia made me try that navel-gazing stuff with her once, and let me tell you-"

"Han, Dear," Leia cut him off. "I don't think that's what Ezra had in mind."

Chewie's ringing laugh brought Luke's eyebrows up. "I sense a very interesting story here, but time is short so it'll have to wait. You were saying, Master Bridger?"

"That we need to understand ourselves as well as our enemies. Don't worry, Captain Solo, we won't be gazing into any navels. It's simple, actually. What Agati has is plain to see, all right, all here on this data card. What we see is what he's got. What we have, on the other hand, is a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts."

"A hole?" Jaina Solo popped up from beside her mother. "Are we goin' to hide in a hole? Jedi don' hide!"

"No, Honey, not that kind of hole. A whole, like all of us together," Ezra assured her.

"Then we fight?"

"Yes, Little Sword of the Jedi, we fight." Ezra addressed the rest of the gathering as Jaina's three brothers joined her at the edge of the table, watching him carefully. "On the surface, our assets are four ships, 10 full-grown Jedi, three Jedi learners, a bunch of Jedi younglings, two old smugglers, six Clone troopers, four droids and one Mandalorian. But that's leaving something very important out of the equation." Ezra paused and drew in a deep breath. "The Planet itself and the power of its Creator."

Author's Note: Just in I case anyone was wondering, I thought I would explain where I got Dev and Alora. Dev is a Legends character who appears in a novel called The Truce at Bakura. I have changed part of his storyline to fit with my story, but he is essentially the same character. Alora is the baby girl rescued by Ahsoka and the Rebels in The Future of the Force. (I have read that she was named for Elora, the baby girl in George Lucas' movie Willow.) When I started writing, I did not intend for Dev and Alora to fall in love, but sometimes characters just decide to do things on their own. I guess they were meant to be!

Thanks for reading! ~Faithann