Leia worked mechanically, without thinking. She did not have to read the papers she was signing, nor did she even have to search for the places she had to sign, as Logan did. She knew the fine print on the papers before her by heart, she had helped draft them.

Countless 'Leia Organa Solos' later, Leia reached the last paper in her stack. The one which both would sign under record and witness, to finalize the deal.

She looked up to see that Logan was not done yet with his pile, he had to read or at least skim over the text before he signed it and committed his life's work to the deal. She leaned back in her chair to wait quietly and patiently.

Leia studied him as he worked. Just as she had studied so many others who signed the planets and the groups they represented into the Republic. She saw within him the same common two emotions: reluctance, and relief.

Leia had often wondered what it was like, for these leaders who had worked their entire lives to create something so important to sit here now and entrust all of that work to her and those that she represented.

Her personal instincts and her Jedi insight had eventually allowed her to see that trust and security usually won over the hearts of those whom she had dealt with, and in turn she worked hard to ensure that they would never regret their decision.

She felt anticipation welling up inside her. As she had told Logan, the merge that would hopefully be completed today would probably double the Republic's size. Her life's work would be furthered... she had always devoted her life to formerly the Alliance, and then the New Republic. She would be one step further to fulfilling her goals, though she knew that they would never be totally achieved. She fought for peace and prosperity, and recognized that the grim truth of the manner was that there would always be an Empire of some sort to oppose her struggles. Yet she was still just one step closer in her journey. The thought faintly tickled the edge of her mind as to whether Logan was taking a step forward as she was, or a step backwards...

Her thoughts were interrupted as Logan looked up, having completed his signed.

"All finished?" She said, though mostly just for the books. He nodded, and she placed her attention on the last paper in front of her. The politicians in the corner came to attention, and the holocams in the opposite corner flicked on audibly and focused on her.

"Chief of State Leia Organa Solo, representing the New Republic, signs in favor of the New Alliance's merge into the ranks of the Republic." Leia's tone was bland yet professional. The senators in the corner all individually listed their names and 'witnessing for the New Republic' in turn, and she then signed the paper with a well practiced flourish(for the camera, of course) and placed it and the stylus she had used in front of Logan, indicating that it was his turn.

Then she became an onlooker to the event, and felt the flutter of anticipation in her gut. It annoyed her, and she silenced it...

Logan stared at the little peice of paper as if it was his worst enemy.He had worked up to this point.This was it,the end of the New Alliance.He had devoted the better part of his life to this...and he was about to sign it away.He slid the paper over to him and raised his arm up to it.There was a collective gasp of anticipation from everyone in the room.

"Regent Joren Logan signs in favor of the New Alliance merge with the New Republic."

Mahk and Captain Neychev steped forward and stated that they were witnesses in the signing and suddenly everything went dark for Logan momentarily.Everyone in the room was clapping and congradulating each other.Logan just slumped in his seat and let out a deep long sigh.It was finally over,all the worries,all the stress.He could finally live out the rest of life without the pressures of running a major faction.He remembered the looks on the faces of the brand new volunteers when the New Alliance was starting out.They were the faces of eager young recruits who had absolute faith in their leader.He had done well in those early years,he had completely organized the supplies,the garrisons on Almania.The Planetary Defenses and the new shipyards.He had worked tirelessly,had stayed awake countless nights,got very little sleep...


Now he wondered why he had done that.It now seemed that everything he had done,all his hard work,meant nothing.But he knew he was wrong,deep down he knew that his hard work was simply in the hands of another.He hoped that they would use it for good,and never for any harmful purposes.He buried his face in his hands and rubbed his eyes.He stood up and turned to Organa Solo.He forced a smile and offered his hand.It was symbolic and it was his way of finally handing everything to her.

To the surprise of everyone in the room, Leia stood just the same as Logan did, but did not accept his proffered hand.

The people in the room stirred, wondering what she was up to.

Leia instead walked with precisely measures steps around her desk to the front of it, where Logan was.

Evidently unlike the other inexperienced dolts that were the inner workings of the Republic(the experienced smart ones, which actually did make up the majority of the government, didn't relish having to attend such functions and were off doing their own quite abundant work), the now former Regent had apparently anticipated Leia's movement(or at least had the gut instinct to know how to react) and his hand was still stuck out to her. All he did was turn to face her.

She took his hand in both of hers, and met his gaze directly.

"Thank you for your time, devotion, and generosity, Logan. Hopefully our future together as one united government will bring peace and prosperity to all whom wish and deserve it."

As he stared into Leia's eyes he felt a pang of guilt.He wished his wife could have been here.But he felt good at having the Chief of State of the New Republic treat him like an equal.These last few years the other factions of the Galaxy dismissed the New Alliance as a small group and of no concequence.They had always thought themselves superior to Logan and his faction.Now,finally,someone was treating him as an equal,and not inferior.His smile grew and became more sincere.

"And I thank you for accepting us and helping form this new union."

Then as the people in the room clapped Logan lowered his voice so only Leia could hear.

"And I thank you,for you have made everything I have done and worked for,mean somthing"

He let go of her hand and turned to the holoprojectors,letting them take their pictures.

A handful of long moments later the holo recorder operators signaled they had enough footage, and shut off their equipment.

Leia casually picked up one of the thinner folders sitting on her desk and fanned herself.

"Huh... hot in here with all of this stuff crammed in. And here I thought I had a large office..."

"You do" said her aide, who had quietly appeared at her side and now seemed to be blowing quiet rasberries at her with such remarks at that.

Leia waved the file folder at her.

"Oh, shoo, you paper pusher."

She grinned at the politicians and the holo recorders.

"Yeah, that's right, all of you. Scoot, get out of my office!"

They all looked at her with faintly amused expressions, though some of the junior politicians present suddenly looked a little indecisive, as if her tone was not as light as it sounded.

She caught their gazes, however.

"Hey, I'm only kidding, you know that."

She waved the file at them too, and they all filed out without another word.

Leia turned to Logan.

"Care for some company out of here? I'm due for my morning 'walk' anyways."

Logan nodded and smiled.

"I would be happy to"

Mahk steped forward as if to follow but Logan held a hand up and signaled for him to leave.The Noghri frowned and looked more than just a little dissapointed.Mahk was only dissapointed when he felt that Logan was putting him in a position where he could not adequetly defend him.Captain Neychev,who was still in the room along with Mahk steped to the Noghri's side and said,

"C'mon Mahk.We have some things to do up at the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Archammer<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->.The......representatives from...the Deep Core are waiting for us."

Mahk nodded and he and Neychev walked out of the room.Logan turned back to Organa Solo and they walked out of the room as well.Soon they were strolling the grounds outside of the New Republic Government Building.

Corellia,Logan though,was a beautiful world.It had lush gardens and scenery.Just the type of planet Logan prefered.Onyx,which was the New Alliance equal to Corellia,was much the same.It too had beautiful scenery.

"I am glad the signings are finally over with"

Leia smiled.

"I am too. Funny how something so potentially life changing all happens in such a short time span, huh."

Seeing Logan looking about, Leia glanced around at their surroundings as well. She knew this area to be one of the highest kept places on Corellia, for obvious reasons of political and social image.

Other areas on the planet were... not quite so bright, peaceful, and clean.

Leia was used to living in the artificially pretty political world, and yet had also become accustomed to the scourge of the galaxy as well.

Perhaps it only served to benefit her work. Perhaps not. Leia rarely thought of the 'what' or even more, the 'why' of her job, her life's work.

She only knew one thing: she had gotten this far...

She turned to Logan.

"So is the family happy you're doing this? Your work had to have taken up a huge portion of your life..."

Pain.Anger.Guilt.Hurt.

All of these emotions flared up inside Logan when Leia said asked the question.One thing about this woman was she always seemed to know what you were thinking and what you were going to do or say before you did.No doubt the Jedi instincts,and the Force behind that little mystery.He took a deep breath and collected himself.His wife's death still hurt him deeply,and it wouldn't do to break down emotionly in front of his new boss.

"My wife,Keira,died fifteen years ago in a fire in our home.She....was happy that I had found a new profession and that I was working on a project that was challenging.We were just talking about kids,and she wanted them badly."

Logan smiled at the memory,but soon his smile faded.

"I'm sure she would be happy at what I have acomplished.She always told me how proud she was of me.Now my only family is Wade Vox,one of your Jedi aprrentices,now a Jedi Knight I beleive.And Arthorn Blackkon,and Vonta Horn.They are my only friends and I am not sure they are happy about this."

He sighed,remembering the past.


EDIT: <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Arthorn<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> then......sheesh...

OOC: It's Arthorn, not Arathorn man. Cripes, everybody still does that. Like I've said, I typo'd the User Name. Btw, I'm still working on my post here, it's a lengthy one, and hopefully a good one.

EDIT: Thanks. Nothing against you of course, just a bit frustrated at the time. Vonta's the worst about the name thing, I just thought I'd point out the error this time.

Admiral Blackkon’s office, Almania-----

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp “Another moving day,” Arthorn thought to himself. This type of thing happened too far often. His entire career had been one job after another. Not that he worked for bad people or didn’t do his job well, but one way or another it just never seemed to work out. He’d started out at CorSec, but left after a few years, having tired of law enforcement. Most of his work since then were of shorter duration. Blackkon had hoped this position would last longer, he actually had enjoyed it. His men here were like no others, fiercely loyal to him. He had only been in a command position here for a short time before his pilots were declaring themselves “Blackkon’s Blades” and instituting new “unofficial” uniforms, as well as having an insignia one of them designed painted onto their Skipray Blastboats. While he couldn’t publicly condone the behavior, it had a very positive effect on the pilot’s performances, and it wore off on the ships crews as well, therefore it had been quietly supported. Now here he was, packing up already. Regent Logan had left several days before for Corellia and the merger negotiations. Blackkon had stayed behind to keep things in order, pack up, and do some thinking as to what he would do now. He hadn’t answered that question yet. One of the Republic’s High Command had gotten in contact with him offering a command similar to what the Regent would probably end up doing. Arthorn didn’t know though. It had been a long time since he’d actively dealt with what had become of the Rebellion, even being a native-born Corellian and multiple recipient of the Corellian Bloodstripes. He told them he’d think about it, and asked them to get back to him with more details. So far he’d heard nothing.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp The Admiral didn’t keep much around his office, most of his things he kept on the “Blackk Night” and his command ship. Because of this, packing didn’t take very long. In fact, he’d cleared his quarters on his command ship, the Menace-class Star Destroyer “Reliant” before sending it and the rest of his command to Onyx, where they were to wait for the merger’s completion. Packing was also made easier because Aryln, his secretary, had already neatly folded his clothes and laid them to be packed into his satchel. Likewise, all his personnel, ship, and mission hardcopy files were stacked on his desk. It was amazing how well the young woman had gotten to know him and his habits, despite the fact he was rarely around the office. The main side effect of her having done most of his work here was that he found himself drifting off in thought often. He thought of his days after CorSec, where his jobs included stints with the Corporate Sector Authority, numerous planetary defense forces, and a short stint with the Hapes Consortium as well.

----------Flashback, Hapan Space, Military Administration Center---------

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp “Lt. Blackkon, you were out of line,” the General screamed, inches from the Lieutenant’s face. “What were you thinking, you disobeyed a direct order from Commander Atylyk!”

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Arthorn stood straight, staying silent. He knew for now that the General didn’t want an answer. Soon enough he’d begin to calm down, and hopefully allow Blackkon to speak. Until then he would have to just take his abuse. The General, some noble with no idea of what battle and combat actually was, continued on for several more minutes, then finally gave the younger officer a chance to explain himself.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp “Sir, Commander Atylyk sent my flight to recon the moon and keep weapons powered down. While we were on the far side of the moon when the rest of the squadron was attacked. The Commander ordered a full retreat, but it was only our interference that saved the others. The timing of our return assault deflected the capital ship that had carried the uglies attacking the rest of the squad and would have wiped them out. Yes, our original objective was not completed, but when comparing that to the loss of our squadron members, it’s more than worth it sir.”

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Indeed, that’s exactly what had happened. Blackkon’s third flight had been slotted to reconnoiter a large asteroid while on a scouting mission at the edges of Hapan space. While on the far side of the huge ball of rock, their My’til’s sensors had detected a swarm of fighters headed away from a Marauder Corvette. The four fighters had caught the much larger ship with it’s shields still down from launching fighters and were able to disable it’s engines. This done, they kicked up their throttles and dove down into the furball below to try and save their comrades. Three of the others were killed in the battle, and two other My’tils damaged before the pirates were defeated. From his damaged fighter, Atylyk had ordered them to wait there while reinforcements arrived, but Arthorn had led the remainders of their squadron against the Marauder, which was already nearly up and running again.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp In most militaries, the actions of Blackkon’s flight would have gotten them all medals, but amongst the Hapans, it was just short of treason. Everyone was expected to obey their officers, typically nobles of some sort, under all circumstances. The young Lieutenant was cited for insubordination, and was unable to advance any further in the aristocratically run military, certainly with the charges on his record. He stayed a while longer, the resigned his commission and left, having developed a fierce distaste for arrogant people. His career continued on the same general path he was on, as he gained more and more experience in a variety of positions and locations across the galaxy before he’d settled with the New Alliance, hoping he’d finally found a home there.

--------------Back in Blackkon’s Office-------------------

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp He’d finished packing, everything fit into a single duffle, and anything extra was in boxes already aboard the shuttle. Standing upright, Blackkon took a deep thoughtful breath, turned and went to work on his empty desk now. Aryln had downloaded all of his information that pertained to him, his missions, his men, and his ships onto his Datapad and out of the TNA database. The Rogue Empire was going to be claiming this planet after the merger, and the Admiral didn’t need any more info than they’re already compiled on him falling into their hands. They had been a strong enemy, and a fair ally, but he was a cautious man. So, slipping the Datapad away, Blackkon hefted the two satchels onto his shoulder and walked out of the office, stone faced as always despite the turmoil underneath. Aryln followed him; she was coming with him, out of loyalty.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp They reached the “Blackk Night” a few moments later to meet with a dozen other men, half of them former TNA soldier, the rest a compilation that he’d work with before. Like Aryln, they were going with the former Admiral, to serve with a man they trusted, and who trusted them. Thinking about it, Blackkon had to shake his head. He had never understood what it was about him that drew people to him. Personally he thought there was a lot to desire about his leadership, but he was just oddly charismatic, and those that served with him served with a passion. He’d probably never understand it.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp “The ‘Night’ is ready to roll boss,” one of the men said after introductions had been made.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp “Thanks Gaelar. Let’s get moving,” the career officer replied with a loose salute.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp The small group boarded the shuttle and from the pilots chair Arthorn obtained clearance from Almania control. The controller sounded a bit harried, no doubt busy making changes in preparation for the merger. Swiftly the Lambda rose off the duracrete and the wings unfolded beside it. Minutes later they cleared the planetary shields, and for just a moment everyone could look down at the uninterrupted beauty of the planet. Then the shields came back online and it blurred slightly. With a frown, Blackkon indicated to Gaelar, currently serving as co-pilot, to lock in the hyperspace route. Then he activated the ships PA system and called out. “Thirty seconds to our hyperspace jump. Please strap in now.” Once clear of the planet’s hyperspace shadow the shuttle jumped, disappearing into the colorful hues of hyperspace.

------Onyx, Current Meeting point for the New Alliance Fleet.------

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Hours later, the “Blackk Night” shot out of hyperspace in the Onyx system. Blackkon smiled a bit, seeing the massive amount of blips on the sensor screen. The entire fleet was here right now, prepared for their addition to the New Republic forces. Directing his shuttle near the Fourth Fleet, his former command, the Admiral sent out a message to all ships. “Attention all New Alliance personnel. This is Admiral Arthorn Blackkon, Commander of the Fourth Fleet. I must say it was an honor to serve with each of you. I’ll remember my experiences here for the rest of my life, and treasure the skill and respect everyone showed not only to me, but to yourselves. I wish you all the best of luck with the New Republic. Who knows, perhaps we’ll find ourselves working together again. That’s yet to be seen, but you never know. I trust you’ll do great things in the future with or without me though. Now to the Fourth. You men and women above all I’m grateful for. My entire life I’ve found myself as an officer, but never before have I found such true loyalty as you displayed for me and the New Alliance. I thank you, and I’ll miss you.”

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Blackkon had always been a man whose features were locked behind a mask of seriousness, despite the situation. Now though, he found himself saddened, in fact a lone tear made itself down the side of his face. He sighed and requested clearance from the shipyards. That had been another responsibility of his while serving the Alliance. The Admiral had run the shipyards here, though usually by extension from wherever the fleet was currently stationed. Now he had to do the same job he had on Almania. Clear his records from the systems here.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp This didn’t take long, most of them had been taken out by eliminating them from the databases back on Almania. In less than an hour he was back aboard the Lambda and off the shipyards. Ten minutes later they were all unboarding again, now aboard the Xylx-class Battlecruiser ‘Eclipse’. The ship was his gift from Regent Logan for his service. In his time here he’d developed a number of tactics for these type of craft. In fact, he’d orchestrated the entire takeover of Serndipal from one of it’s sisters in the Fourth Fleet. He’d had no trouble staffing it, in fact choosing who of the volunteers would come along was the difficult part. Bringing along the Blades and their fighters had proved to be a lesson in creative packing, a couple of the secondary hangers were filled with their Blastboats.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Arriving at the bridge, Blackkon was finally feeling normal again. The only oddity was everyone wearing the black uniforms similar to the ones he’d worn when he joined the Alliance, except theirs still held rank insignia. He unconsciously shrugged, he’d get used to it soon enough. “Captain, get us out of here.”

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp With one last look at Onyx, the Xyxl was gone…