The Forgotten Empress

Untitled Part 1

Hux had been searching for months now through Snoke's records, looking hopefully for something, anything, that could knock Ren out of his seat of power.

As he fishes through the box of old, worn files his attention is drawn to one line of text in particular. It's written in an almost extinct language that Hux could just barely understand, it was crinkled and flattened out, folded and unfolded but Hux still reached for the beat up pieces of paper. He straightened it out, squinting his eyes as he looks over the text carefully. Word by word he takes the time to pick them apart until he manages to string them together to form coherent sentences. Then his eyes widen, he can hardly fathom the shock that racks his body as he recognizes this messy document for what it is: A record of the last days of the Empire. His hand almost trembles as he reads through the file. Following the death of Emperor Palpatine, Snoke himself oversaw the evaluation of the royal family. It would appear that old Palpatine not only had a wife tucked away but also a child, a daughter. Hux's heart speed up at the thought, an actual blood heir to the Empire! The wife and child were transported to the unknown region and left on a planet referred to only as Terra, Snoke describes the planet to have the essence of Naboo in climate and terrain. They were tucked away with a primitive race, left with a small guard for safe keeping until the day they could safely return.

That same night Hux finds himself staring up at his digitized map of the galaxy, searching for called "Terra" that was referenced in the document. He almost gives up after the third hour and second false hope, but he seems to have located it after zooming all the way out and playing with the coordinates once again. He smiles as he gazes upon it: lush green masses of land, large masses of blue waterways snaking around each green mass, and on both ends of the planet are stark white continents, almost like the snow on Star Killer Base. Hux was excited as he watched the planet spinning on its axis over and over, but then became apparent that bringing the true heir to the throne would not be as easy as he thought. It would take months to reach this Terra, there is no way they could risk hype jumping into the unknown and he could trust no one with this information there were underlings all around just dying to please there new Supreme Leader and this news were far too valuable. No, he alone would be making this trip.

****

The funeral director speaks in his monotone voice, the type of voice that you so desperately want to drown out but just can't knowing that what he's speaking about is so important.

"Now a few words from the departed's granddaughter." You blink as your vision comes back into focus. You were in a large church, sitting in the pew right in front of your grandmother's closed casket. You took a deep breath as you realized it was your turn to speak about the person you loved more than anyone you loved in your life. "You got this Princess." The older woman whispered to you before nudging you confidently on your shoulder for encouragement. You looked over to her, this was your grandmother's best friend, Miss Sue. You had grown up around her, she was always so cheery and happy to be around, much like your grandmother before she had gotten so sick. You stand and begin taking your first few steps up to the podium and the balding funeral director who was stepping away from the microphone, this was your second full day spent here at the funeral home and it had all build up to this moment. You practiced the speech in your head numerous times, had done it exactly three out of fifteen times without crying over the memory of your grandmother, all you had to do was recite it one more time, it's what she would have wanted. Turning you face the crowd, which one last deep breath you start.

"Thank you all for coming," You begin, flashing a crooked smile at the shamefully small crowd that consisted mostly of your family. Your grandmother had always kept to herself, lived by herself next to Miss Sue and often never socialized with anyone else. You should have expected this, but the sight still made you feel awful. Your grandmother was the most humble and loving person, you felt like you should have been giving this speech to the entire world. "As many of you know my grandmother raised me after I lost my parents in a car accident. I'd like to think I was a good kid but I'm sure I was a handful." A couple of grams friend chuckle and nod in the crowd but their weak show of happiness makes you feel no better than when you started. "I knew I'm supposed to talk about my grams life but we all know that she was the most selfless person ever, I think I would prefer to talk about what she meant to me, so here we go." Your voice cracked slightly, here would come the tears. "I have few memories of my parents, I was too young when they passed, so my childhood memories are all Gram and what I remember most was spending rainy afternoons listening to her stories. She would make up the best stories, but her favourite was the one of her father being the Emperor of the galaxy. She told me this story the most, it was a great tale of space travel and how she was a hidden Princess that would return home one day. She said that why all her friends call me Princess because I was one " A sad chuckle escapes your lips, you took a look at the crowd to see if anyone else was smiling but people were staring on at you sadly. Maybe you should have cut that part of your speech after all. "I guess every granddaughter is a Princess to the grandmother but Grams truly had a way of making me feel special, I will miss her every day but I will always have her stories, they will always be in my mind as she will always be in my heart." your throat tightens at this point, you aren't sure if you will be able to continue without water or something. The funeral director seems to notice and thankfully stepped in, gently pushing you out of the way and thanking you for your heartfelt speech. You weren't finished, you wanted to finish, but you knew as soon as the image of the church became blurry in your eyes you'd be unable to finish. So you turned, smiling at him as you made your way off the podium and back to your seat. You could only hope that Gram was proud of you.

Miss Sue had a tissue waiting for you as you sit down, the rest of the ceremony was a haze and before you knew it it was over. You were paying the funeral director and most of the crowd had left save Grams closest friends.

You traveled in the hearse with the body of your grandmother while everyone else followed close behind you. Before now you never cared for car processions, always moving around them and speeding past them under the guise of not having time to drive so slow behind them. But now, as you were on your way to the nearby cemetery to bury your Gram once and for all, you wished you could slash the tires of those being so disrespectful to drive so fast in the lane next to you. This was your grandmother, your beloved grandmother. Didn't they know how special she was to you?

Once your grandmother's casket had been laid to rest, buried under the dirt, and everyone but you and her closest friend had left, Miss Sue took your hand into her old one. "Sweet child you did well, it has not been a happy day." You only nod, not sure what to say really. "Now I have something to give you," She pulled out a box from her purse and opens it, oh thank god, your Grandmother's necklace! This one piece of jewelry was your grandmother's prize possession. It was her mother's and she always said it would be yours. So when you couldn't find it you thought maybe it was misplaced at the hospital but thankfully Miss Sue had it. "You are never to remove this Princess, that was your Grandmother's orders." Miss Sue voice has a commanding tone as she places it around your neck. "Lovely, now it's time to go home." She pushes you toward a car her daughter Cora was driving. "In you get."

On the car ride back to town Miss Sue is talking about how you really should move, "If you switch school Princess you could stay with me and Cora. Imagine the money you would save!" She looks over her shoulder at you.

"Mother, do you think now is the time for this?" Cora scolded then they started bickering back and forth. Miss Sue seemed concerned about keeping you safe. You look out the window letting there bickering fade into the background, your hand rest on your necklace, you remember playing with it as a child while sitting on your Grams lap, the chain held a pendant that was gold. It was circular, a chunk of it was missing in the center that took the shape of a sun with a ring around it. As a child you would hold it up to the sky and pretend it was the sun, casting gold and copper shadows on your face. It was a pretty little sun, your grandmother would just smile at nod, simply watch you play your childish games with it until something else caught your interest. Of course, looking at it now, it wasn't a sun. To this day you had no idea what it was, adding that to the list of questions you wished you asked grandmother. You wanted to know more aabout the steampunk style pentandt that was gifted to you. How could something you know so little about be so important to you? You squeeze the pendent into your palm silently promising Grams you wouldn't take it off.