Chapter Text
Ministry of Defence Building, Chume’dan, Hapes
“We have a problem.” The Queen’s Chief-of-Staff announced as she barged into the Minister of Defence’s office in the north wing of the Fountain Palace.
Prince Isolder, Defence Minister and acting Crown Prince of the Hapes Consortium sighed loudly, but did not look up from his datapad. “Anhaje, I’ve just had to issue a ‘stand down’ order for the entire inventory of Creutz Battle Tanks because of problems with the turbine engines, development of the Battle Dragons new long-range sensors are months behind schedule, and the fleet is facing a retention problem.”
He glanced up from his datapad with a look of resigned amusement, “I really don’t need any more problems for the day.”
Undeterred, Anhaje pressed on, “I was going through the RSVPs for the Queen’s Coronation, and I saw that Jacen hasn’t replied yet.”
After the war, the Hapan Ruling Council pressed the Queen Mother for a Coronation Ceremony as a way of restoring tradition and to bestow legitimacy upon the war-time government. Tenel Ka politely demurred, saying that it was more important for her people to reclaim their lives and restore some sense of normalcy after years of sacrifice and bloodshed. A year later, the Majority Leader of the Council again broached the subject, saying that it had been over 20 years since the last coronation and that after all of their hard work, Hapans deserved to celebrate and witness a bit of Royal pomp and circumstance.
Not wishing to appear aloof to her people or unappreciative of all they had done, the Queen Mother reluctantly agreed and her coronation date was set —a date one week from today.
Isolder made a face, “That doesn’t sound like him.”
“No.” Anhaje agreed, “So I did some digging around. Apparently, his official invite was never sent.”
The older man sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose. It would explain why his daughter was acting a bit…off…these days. She was trying her best to hide it, but Isolder had picked up on the way she avoided any conversation about her friend, or how she seemed a bit short with both the staff and with him. All because she assumed that her best friend was ignoring the most important day of her life.
“Accidentally or on purpose, do you think?”
“Gadell is trying to find out.” She replied, referring to the Chief of Palace Security and unofficial head of the Hapans commercial espionage department. “But, my money is on the latter.” She added, drily.
Before Isolder could reply, Anhaje continued, “I’ve tried calling his personal comlink a couple times, but always get a ‘no signal found’ message. I’m pretty sure that he KNOWS about the Coronation, do you think he’d come anyway?”
The Crown Prince shook his head, “No, Jacen grew up with official protocol, so he knows the drill. He’s probably assuming that she’s not asking on purpose…that she doesn’t want to create problems with the Council or Nobility.”
“Doesn’t he know that the Queen Mother doesn’t care what…”
Isolder interrupted, shaking his head again, “He also knows that it’s not entirely up to her.” As he talked, he searched through his datapad for his contact list. Finding it, he looked up again at his daughter’s Chief-of-Staff and gave her a wink, “This isn’t as big a problem as you think--I’ve got his ship’s emergency number…I think this qualifies.”
Anhaje nodded as Isolder started dialing his office’s official comlink and left the office, hearing the Hapan Prince’s ‘Royal’ voice as he started to leave a message. “Mr. Solo, this is Prince Isolder. There’s been a problem…”
T
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O O(___)O O
Capiston Spaceport, Bakura
Even though Jacen had come to Bakura with a completely different agenda than that what he had ended up doing, it had still been a good day. He had helped Malinza raise funds for her election campaign to Parliament, had an informal talk with the Under-Secretary of Communications about improving Bakura’s holonet bandwidth, and gave an interview with the capitol’s local news station about the extent of Hapes’s relief efforts in this part of the galaxy.
As he keyed in the code to unlock his ship, he smiled to himself. He might not have learned a single thing about the Cosmic Balance from Bakura’s ecumenical leaders today, but he had learned a fair bit about his policy skills and maybe that was what his galactic wanderings were all about. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Vergere gave him a wink.
After changing into more comfortable clothes, Jacen entered the cockpit and saw the blinking ‘Message’ indicator on the ship-board comm system, with a time-stamp of ninety minutes previous. Scowling to himself, he activated the recording.
“Mr. Solo…” came a smooth tenor voice that Jacen recognized immediately, “…this is Prince Isolder. There’s been a problem…”
If there was more to the message, Jacen never heard it. He had spent enough time around his father and sister to know how to perform an ‘alert’ preflight, and had the auxiliary power unit started, external power cart disconnected, and flight instruments online all before Isolder had finished the message. Rushing into the pilot’s seat, he became another flurry of activity—as he made sure the navicomputer had the hyperspace jumps programmed into the flight management system, he warmed up the engines and obtained departure clearance from air traffic control.
It was not until he had been in hyperspace for a full thirty minutes and his adrenaline had wound down before Jacen realized that he had not actually listened to Isolder’s message. “Mr. Solo, this is Prince Isolder. There’s been a problem with Tenel Ka’s paperwork and I was hoping you could assist me in clearing up the issue. Please call at your earliest opportunity.”
Jacen hung his head at acting so rash. Paperwork? He’d blasted out of Bakura in a panic for paperwork? It was probably some silly issue about not having Tenel Ka’s diploma from the Academy on file, or her discharge papers from military service after the Myrkr mission. He debated on simply turning around and heading back to Bakura, but decided that he should go support his best friend on the lead-up to her historic event, even if he could not actually attend. Besides, he was not really in the mood to look like a fool to Bakuran air traffic control. With a loud sigh, he activated his hypercomm antenna and called Prince Isolder.
Unsurprisingly, Isolder answered on the second ring. “Hello, Jacen! Thank you for calling back so quickly.” The older man noticed the static on the line, and his tone turned puzzled, “Where are you?”
“About a half-hour out of Bakura.”
“Ah. Aha.” The Prince replied, amusedly. Jacen got the impression that Isolder expected that to be his answer. Well, probably not Bakura per se, but he had assumed that Jacen would be en route to Hapes after hearing his cryptic message. Smirking at the prince’s psychic ability, Jacen at least had finally learned where Tenel Ka’s trademark reply came from.
Isolder continued, “Anhaje tried calling, but she was never able to get a signal.”
Jacen fought a grimace, “Bakuran’s are still a bit…” He paused, searching for the right word, “…apprehensive about too much outside communication, so they’ve limited the amount of bandwidth available off-planet.”
“Given their history, I can’t really blame them.” Isolder replied drily. “About my call: you are aware, I’m sure, of the Queen’s upcoming coronation?”
Jacen bit back a retort; the Queen Mother’s coronation been on the news, even out on far-away Bakura, every evening for a week. Jacen had heard about the official guest list, he knew what the menu was going to be, he’d learned which four of the twenty-five galas the Queen was planning to attend…. of course he was aware. He was also aware that he had not received an invitation, which meant that this call was the Fountain Palace’s way of ‘breaking it to him gently’. A polite way of saying that he would allowed to visit his best friend this week, but that, due to politics and because of the still simmering anti-Jedi sentiment, Jacen would have to remain persona non- grata for the actual festivities.
Visibly bracing himself, he tried to keep his tone light. “I might have heard a thing or two.”
His comment earned a throaty chuckle from the Prince. Given the amount of media attention that was saturating the Hapan airwaves, the older man knew Jacen had understated things a touch.
“Oh, I am sure.” He paused theatrically, “Unfortunately….” Isolder paused again, and Jacen stiffened in anticipation of the bad news, “…your invitation seems to have gotten lost. I’m afraid that a verbal invite is going to have to suffice.”
Jacen stared, stunned, at the communication console for a long second. They were actually going to let him attend? “Ex---excuse me?” He finally managed to stammer out in reply.
“Right. Well….” The Prince sounded apologetic, “…we are not really sure what happened to your official invitation. As it happens, Anhaje was going through the RSVPs today and noticed that you had not replied. When she investigated, she realized one had never been sent. Which is why you never responded.”
Recovering from his shock, and trying not to sound too excited about this invitation, Jacen became curious. “Was it lost, or simply….lost.”
Laughing, Isolder replied, “See, we’ll make a Hapan out of you yet.”
Jacen did not know how to reply to that. On one hand, he really wanted to be at the Queen Mother’s side through thick and thin. On the other…well, it is Hapes, and one does get tired of the constant maneuvering and posturing.
Jacen quickly changed the topic before the silence became too awkward, answering Isolder’s invitation as stately as he could. “I would be most honored to attend the Queen’s coronation.”
Isolder laughed again in reply. “I thought you would.” A small pause, “How are your ballroom skills? And I don’t suppose you have any formal wear on-hand?”
“Pretty good…” Jacen answered honestly, thinking back to all of the formal events he and Jaina were forced to attend. A fond smile of crossed his face as he remembered Anakin always seemed find a way to escape all of those events. The twins, though, started to enjoy all of the attention they got at the things. Having a number of attractive women (or, in Jaina’s case, handsome men) flirt with you for a few hours did tend to boost your teen ego. “…and no.”
“Well, it was just an idle hope. Can I get your sizes then? I’ll have my tailor get started on something.”
Jacen told him, and reassured the older man that, yes, those measurements were accurate…he had purchased a couple of ‘business attire’ ensembles just a few months ago for the purpose of meeting all of the mid-level officials his mother and girlfriend wanted him to meet. Purely for ‘off the record’ discussions, of course.
Isolder explained, a bit apologetically, that because the Coronation itself was highly scripted, Jacen’s role would be limited to that of chauffeur of the Royal carriage—a vintage wheeled carriage that pre-dated Hapes repulsor-lift technology. The Prince went on to explain that he had chauffeured Teneniel to her Coronation and thought it most appropriate for Jacen to act in the same role. The Prince went on to explain that because only a formal consort to the Queen Mother was allowed to sit at her table for dinner, Jacen would have to content himself with eating with the Prince. Fortunately, the formalities ceased with the conclusion of the formal dinner, and the Queen would be able to attend any and all balls with whomever she wished.
Jacen took all of the information in stride; he knew that the ceremonies of State were only designed to add to the legitimacy both to the Crown and to the Queen’s appointed Ministers and to confirm Tenel Ka’s responsibility to protect and defend to the people of Hapes.
After the formalities of the ceremony were explained, Isolder thanked Jacen for ‘casually mentioning’ to the Kuati mining CEO he’d happened to meet at one of Calrissian’s parties about Gallinore’s deep core mining expertise. The CEO had contacted one of the Gallinore’s firms, and an opila mining joint-venture was started in a cluster of asteroids in the Bimmiel system.
T
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O O(___)O O
Fountain Palace, Chume’dan, Hapes -- Three days later
Tenel Ka was standing at the far alcove of her Throne Room office trying to decide which of the five gowns arrayed in front of her she would wear to her final gala of Coronation Day. She had been invited, of course, to all twenty-five balls and receptions that were being thrown in Chume’dan, but if she tried to attend all of them, she’d never be able to enjoy any of them. So, her, Anhaje, and her father had winnowed the list down to four for her to attend.
The biggest problem she faced was that almost all of them were also fund-raisers for various causes around the Consortium, and her presence would insure that a lot of money would be raised for the cause in question. The first two choices were fairly straight-forward and free from controversy: both the Army and Navy were hosting events to raise money for the families of the fallen soldiers. Tenel Ka might be their Commander-in-Chief, but she looked forward to being able to swap tales of danger, excitement, and loss with those who knew the cost of having such memories. As an added bonus, she would be able to wear her military dress uniform to both…thus eliminating the need to choose a gown.
Deciding to try to defuse some political tension, she also chose to attend an event that her biggest critic on the Ruling Council had organized. Maguella Dotter had long argued that the Crown was too slow in bringing change to the electoral system, but she was also a strong advocate for legal defense for the less fortunate…a cause the Queen could embrace whole-heartedly without fear of political posturing. Once again, the nature of the event made her choice of dress easy: a short-sleeved black dress that hung just above her knees.
As she stood in front of the five gowns, she found that her gaze kept returning to the blue one on the center-left. It was a simple gown of bright blue of about ankle length with a slit to mid-calf on the left side. It was an off-the-shoulder number, however, that left her right arm and shoulder bare. When she’d made the decision to attend the benefit for the Chume’dan Zoo, however, it was on the assumption that Jacen was going to attend as well. Now that it was clear she was going to have to attend with someone else, she did not think she could tolerate anyone else trying to sneak a look at her cleavage. Sighing, she turned instead to a high-neck green gown with lace sleeves.
“You really should go with the blue.” Said a recognizable voice behind her. Tenel Ka turned to see Jacen leaning on her desk, a single white rose in one hand and an amused grin on his face.
“I should, should I?” She asked mock-menacingly, left eye-brow raised, as she padded over to her friend.
“Definitely.” Jacen replied playfully, stepping towards her and opening his arms.
Tenel Ka stepped into the offered embrace. “You came.” She whispered as she kissed his ear, putting her head on his shoulder.
“Of course.”
After a few moments, Jacen released his embrace and offered her the rose he had brought. “I couldn’t let the lack of a formal invite keep me from attending.”
After taking the offered gift, her small smile turned into a look of confusion. “What do you mean, ‘…lack of a formal invite’?”
Jacen hopped up onto her desk and proceeded to tell the tale of Anhaje handing the stack of official invitations to the Palace courier, but grew suspicious at the lack of an RSVP from Jacen. Upon checking the official communications log, the Queen’s secretary found that there was no record of an invite to Jacen being sent. When questioned, the courier stated that she had accounted for receipt and delivery of all the invitations, and the data communications officer on duty that day verified that she had sent all the invitations in the queue. Somehow, Jacen’s invitation had gone missing.
Tenel Ka stopped pacing after Jacen had finished and sat next to him on her desk. “So…the odds of it actually being lost….” She trailed off. She had only been Queen Mother for a little over a year and she had tried her damnedest to keep her Grandmother’s political games out of her Palace. Apparently, she still had a lot of work to do in that regard.
“Are pretty low.” Jacen agreed. “But, seeing your Grandmother’s look when I show up as your chauffer will almost be worth it.”
Despite herself, Tenel Ka chuckled. One of the things she loved most about Jacen was his ability to simply shrug off problems that he could not control…a trait she was trying to emulate. She knew that he was bothered by Ta’a Chume’s blatant interference, but also knew that the best way to fight back was to simply ignore the woman’s pettiness. What others saw as lackadaisical, she knew to be pragmatism. Encouraged by his lack of animosity towards the situation, she talked about how she was afraid to bring up the topic of the Coronation because he seemed disinterested. Laughing, Jacen replied that he was afraid to bring it up because he knew the political realities of her position and did not want to make her uncomfortable.
Smiling again at his admission, she hopped off the desk, took Jacen’s hand and led him over the array of gowns in the alcove to their left. “What’s wrong with the green one?” she asked, mock-seriously. “It is very pretty.”
Jacen gave his best friend a sideways look, “Princess, you are much too sexy for the green one.”