oratorical | IC Contact

Alderaan was a core world. They keep strip mining and waste dumping to planets less likely to cause an uproar in the Senate.

[not that she wasn't outraged by all that regardless, and there wasn't really a Senate anymore either, but that was generally how things work. The core planets are too wealthy and too important to the Empire. But she would've preferred anything to what actually happened. Destroy Alderaan's natural beauty as retaliation, but at least leave the planet there.

But they hadn't and they wouldn't and even though most times she knows better, Leia still blames herself for what happened, as if she could have changed anything. Those strong emotions don't fade at all as she continues, really only getting worse the more she has to explain.]

I mean it literally. The Empire developed a new weapon and tested its full power on Alderaan.

What?!

[He feels like a scratched data disc, just repeating the same thing again, but he can't have heard what she just said. The world around him rocks, until he realizes that it's actually him. He sits down abruptly.]

But-! They wouldn't-! That's billions and billions of people! Billions of innocents! That's a planet, and... and a Core World! Even the Empire wouldn't-!

[He might be on the verge of hyperventilating, and Leia's emotions aren't helping one bit. His mind just can't wrap around this. How can a whole planet just be gone?]

The Empire doesn't care. As far as they were concerned, Alderaan and all its inhabitants were to provide a lesson to the rest of the galaxy.

[because that's what Tarkin had said, wasn't it? That the old base on Dantooine was too far out of the way to be an effective example. A fresh wave of guilt rolls through the link at that recollection. She's not sure how she would've felt if the Empire really had gone ahead and destroyed Dantooine instead at her word. Alderaan would've been safe for another day, but Dantooine's destruction would have been her fault entirely.]

A message?!

[Disbelief and outrage rise up like a bubble through the shock.]

What kind of message did they think they were sending?! "You guys should all join the Rebellion because the Empire is a bunch of murderous kriffing bastards?!"

[Sorry not sorry for the language there, Leia. Some sentiments jut can't be expressed without it.]

[no need to excuse that language, because it's exactly what she feels. She can excuse Ezra this time.]

That was the message they wound up sending.

[because Alderaan's destruction was seen as an unforgivable offense, which it was, and many defected to or joined up with the Rebellion after all that. They couldn't pin the destruction on the Rebels, as much as they tried.]

But it was intended to instill fear and obedience into the galaxy. To show the dangers of rebellion.

[Ezra's emotions seethe across the connection, roiling dangerously. Shock is quickly giving way to anger.]

Yeah, well, I'd like to show them the "dangers of rebellion!" If they think stuff like that is how you rule galaxy, they better not be surprised when it backfires!

This is how the Empire has always been. They may have tried better earlier on, but it's impossible to keep it hidden forever.

[Their attitude is disgusting, and she can't see how they can feel the way they do. Nor does she want to try. There's value in trying to see the other side of arguments sometimes, but not when it concerns anything about the Empire and their beliefs.]

We have to stop them.

[Anger and fierce determination snap in equal parts.]

I know that's what the Rebellion's about, but I mean it. We can't let them do things like this! We have to find a way to blow up that weapon, or stop it from ever being built.

[Screw the timeline. The future isn't as important as all those billions of lives.]

[Timelines are dumb, everyone knows this, especially someone named Leia who is also currently trying to change her future timeline. But that last bit is something Ezra doesn't need to know. He may want to stay in the dark about most other parts of the future, but leaving him with just Alderaan and not the knowledge of what happens to the Death Star is cruel.]

We do destroy it. There's a story behind it I'd be proud to tell if you were interested in learning it, but the end result is the destruction of that abomination.

We do?

[That's a relief, even if it wasn't soon enough to stop what happened to Alderaan. Ezra's still going to try to prevent that, if he can find a way, but it's at least something to know that there's hope, even if he fails.

Though speaking of preventing it, what better way than by learning how they destroy it in the future?

Besides, it sounds like a good story.]

Sure, I'd love to hear it, if you've got time.

I have time.

[Well, she can make time, because it's an important story to share. And Ezra, as a part of the rebellion deserves to know. And it's not just that, he needs to know, more because it's owed to the people whose lives were lost. Their story has to live on where they couldn't.]

It's a long story, depending on where we start.

Just start with where you think it needs to start.

[He'll settle himself down to listen to her now.

~~And we can fade out and handwave that she told him the basic story here, minus details that Leia wouldn't (or couldn't) tell him.~~]

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SHOULD I WARN FOR SPOILERS BELOW HERE???? If I mention Rogue One stuff? IDK

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