United We Stand
By jedi1952

Disclaimer: This story was created purely for fun and is NOT an attempt to make money and/or to infringe upon any copyrights and/or trademarks held by Lucasfilm.

Author's Notes: This AU story takes place during the Blackfleet Crisis Trilogy, 16 - 17 ABY. Not my favorite EU novels. However, reading it did give me a plot bunny that has persistently hung around for years. I finally gave into that darn bunny. Here is the result. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

For purposes of this AU, I have pretty much ignored the Blackfleet Crisis Trilogy except for the pilot referenced below. That said you really don't need to have read those novels to understand this story. But for any of you who have read them, Leia Organa-Solo is still the Chief of State of the New Republic, Han Solo is still a NR General and Wedge Antilles is still a NR Commander.

In addition, I borrowed a phrase from the NPR enactment of ROTJ.

My thanks go to GreatOne for looking over this story. My thanks also must go to my brother. His input is always appreciated and is invaluable.

Do not reproduce this story anywhere without my express permission.

Luke Skywalker let out a sigh as he landed his X-wing on Yavin 4. It had been a long and challenging mission, but now it was over. All he wanted to do was hit the shower, get some food and sleep. Not necessarily in that order. He wearily jumped down to the hanger floor. He then got Artoo out of his socket.

He told his faithful friend, "Go get a recharge and rest, you deserve it." Heck, that little droid had saved him yet again.

Artoo replied that LUKE needed a recharge as well. Luke laughed and agreed with his friend.

Luke looked up to see Tionne. "Welcome home, Master," she said. She hesitated. She could see how exhausted he was.

"What is it, Tionne?" Luke asked.

"A priority message has come in from Coruscant."

Luke paused. "When did it come in, Tionne, and who was it from?"

"It originated from General Madine. It came in three days ago."

Luke thought for a minute. It had not come from Leia or Han or Wedge or Ackbar. He reached out into the Force and could not feel anything urgent. Although he could feel that he needed to take action, but not immediately.

"Thanks Tionne, I will look at it once I get cleaned up and scrounge up something to eat."

Tionne laughed. "Master, you don't have to worry about getting something to eat, it will be ready when you are."

Luke smiled in gratitude and thanked the Force that Tionne was here to administer the academy and take care of all of them. He headed off to his chambers.

Sometime later, after recuperating from his mission, Luke viewed the message from Madine. It was typically cryptic. All he essentially knew was that he was needed on Coruscant as soon as possible.

Tionne, who had called in Kam for support, argued against his leaving without sufficient rest.

"Look," Luke said, "I can get some sleep on the trip to Coruscant. Artoo can monitor the X-wing's systems while I sleep."

Tionne and Kam exchanged defeated glances.

They both said, "May the Force be with you, Master."

Luke gave them a slight bow and replied, "And with you as well my dear friends."

He then jumped into the X-wing and asked if Artoo was set, which he was. Luke maneuvered the X-wing out of the hanger to a safe distance before powering up the sublight engines. The X-wing quickly left the atmosphere and continued into space to a safe jump point.

"Here we go, Artoo," Luke said. He engaged the hyperdrive and they were on their way to Coruscant.

Several days later….

Luke awoke to an insistent beeping. Oh, he foggily thought, Artoo…

"Ok Artoo, I am awake," Luke said. He saw they were ready to come out of hyperspace and pulled the levers. Coruscant appeared before him.

"This is Coruscant Control, unidentified ship please state your name, identification, and the purpose of your visit."

Luke provided his codes and said, "This is Luke Skywalker. I am here for military business."

"Welcome home Master Skywalker," the control responded, her voice betraying her awe at being the one to grant access to the legendary hero. The control then directed him to the Rogue Squadron hanger bay at NR military HQ.

"Thanks Control, Skywalker out."

Once landed, Luke turned to Artoo and said, "Come on buddy, let's see what Madine is so hot to talk about."

Artoo responded, I am with you, my Luke.

Luke and Artoo arrived at Madine's office.

Upon entering, Luke was surprised at the persons in the office. Present were Madine, of course, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Wedge Antilles, Leia, and Admiral Ackbar.

"Welcome Master Skywalker," Madine said.

After looking at Leia, Han, Wedge and Chewie, Luke saw puzzlement equal to his own in their eyes. "Thank you General, what is the purpose of this meeting?"

The general looked down sheepishly and replied, "Actually it is not my meeting. We were using a bit of Corellian Overdrive. This is actually Admiral Ackbar's meeting." He then turned to the Mon Calamari and said, "Admiral?"

Admiral Ackbar stood and addressed the group. "Thank you all for coming. I know it was difficult to set time aside for this meeting. But I assure you, it is of the utmost importance. The New Republic needs your help."

Silence greeted the admiral's statement. After all, were they all not supporting the NR?

Akbar waited a moment and then continued. "I recently became acquainted with a naturally very talented pilot. This pilot was not a citizen of the NR; indeed he was a citizen of an Imperial world. Due to actions taken by the Empire, the pilot wished to join the NR."

The admiral paused to take some water and continued, "After much resistance, the citizenship and loyalty issues were overcome. However, I had encouraged him to join Starfighter Command as a pilot. He eagerly agreed. I then spent some time with him in an X-wing trainer as he had previously flown TIEs. After he was adequately proficient in an X-wing, he went to the Starfighter Command recruitment center to enlist. And that is where I became aware of recent issues and realized I needed your assistance."

Leia spoke up, "Admiral, as I understand you, the young man is now a resident of the NR and possibly on the way to NR citizenship…is that correct?"

"Yes," Ackbar said.

"So, Admiral," Wedge said, "what can we do to assist you? I mean, if the man failed, I am assuming, the physical or psychological tests, what can we do?"

"He passed both of those with the highest of scores," Akbar replied.

Han interrupted, "I don't understand. You have stated that he is a NR resident with an ongoing citizenship application and passed all the tests. Not to mention he has your sponsorship. Are you saying that he was rejected?"

Ackbar sighed in frustration. "Yes."

Han and the others looked at Ackbar incredulously.

Chewie growled out his confusion at this as well. He knew nothing that had been stated thus far would be cause for rejection into the NR Starfighter Command.

Luke, who had remained silent during the admiral's briefing, was feeling a great sense of unease. Indeed the Force was practically shouting at him. He said, "Admiral, you indicated there were issues that recently came to your attention. What are they?"

Ackbar and Madine exchanged a grim glance.

Ackbar replied, "It was a point of education background." He looked to Madine and said, "General if you would continue at this juncture."

Madine nodded. "If you will recall, the Alliance had all their officers take a battery of tests to see where their academic achievement levels were. We were preparing for not only the present but the future officers of the Alliance and what we hoped would be a new republic. Princess, Han, you did not go through those because of your prior academic degrees. Leia as Princess of Alderaan and Han, as you graduated from the Imperial Academy and held an officer's commission in the Empire."

Leia and Han nodded.

Madine paused and looked to Luke and Wedge. "Wedge, you had a combination of home schooling and regular schooling. Due to the tragic deaths of your parents you never finished your formal education."

Madine added with a grin, "However, as I understand it, Booster took it upon himself to continue your education."

Wedge laughed. "Indeed he did."

"Anyway," Madine continued, "You did not have any formal degrees, licenses, etc. until you stood for the Engineers Examination after the defeat of the Empire."

"So?" Wedge asked in puzzlement.

"Your question will be answered in a moment," Madine responded. "But first let us turn to Luke Skywalker."

All eyes riveted on Luke.

"Luke, you also underwent the Alliance's test battery. Your scores were the most surprising of all. You had very few gaps in your education and in most areas you far exceeded the accepted standard."

Luke nodded.

Madine continued, "What was surprising about the result was that you were raised on Tatooine and the only formal education you had was in the local Imperial public school, which, by any standards, was poor."

Madine paused, "We now know that you received private, secret, HoloNet instruction from some of the finest scholars in the galaxy. Although I do not know who provided the funding for that education."

Luke looked at Leia, who gave a brief nod.

"We believe it was Bail Organa who provided the tutors and HoloNet connections," Luke said.

Han said, "Well, that answers something I have always wondered about."

Chewie roared his agreement. *But why?* he asked.

Leia spoke up, "It is simple really. Luke and I are twins. Under Alderaanian law, if you adopt one of a set of twins you automatically adopt the other. So Luke was Bail's adopted son, even though he was raised by Owen and Beru Lars. Since they never officially adopted Luke, Luke was still technically Bail's son by adoption."

Han, who was having a hard time not showing his mirth at this, asked, "So that makes Luke an official Prince of Alderaan?"

Luke looked horrified.

Leia replied, "Yes and no. Although Luke is technically Bail Organa's adopted son, much like Winter is Bail's adopted daughter, neither of them were publically declared as Organa heirs."

Luke interrupted, "That information goes no farther than this room!"

Leia laughed softly. "My dear Brother, I am afraid that every Alderaanian has known that for years."

Luke looked at her in shock. "You mean Winter and Tycho knew this?"

"Yes," Leia responded.

Luke fumed.

Madine then cleared his throat. "All that is very interesting but we have gotten off topic here."

Everyone looked at him in apology, even Ackbar, who had also gotten caught up in the history of the Skywalker twins.

"Now," Madine said, "we have established that Luke has very high academic ratings but no formal degrees, certificates, licenses, etc..."

Han spoke up, "OK, you stated that Leia and I have the academic credentials. Wedge has them after the fact. Luke has none. So where are you going with this?"

Madine gave everyone a piercing look. "I need to turn this meeting back over to Admiral Ackbar."

Ackbar again rose and waited till everyone settled down.

"The issue that came to my attention is a recently passed piece of legislation. This law mandates that for any being to be accepted into the NR military, they must already hold academic or other credentials. It is very loosely written and does not specify any rank or position. The law was buried in a budget proposal and got through. I also am informed it was added at the last minute."

The room erupted in protests, growls, and beeps to the effect of, "WHAT?!"

Again Ackbar waited for them to quiet down. He then continued, "Had this rule been in effect with the Alliance, Wedge and Luke would have been rejected."

"What do you mean rejected?" came the chorus of voices, growls, and beeps.

"I mean," Ackbar said, "that they would not have been granted Alliance military membership in ANY capacity."

All motion in the room ceased as all were astounded at this revelation.

Luke then spoke up, "Admiral, I am not clear on this. Even if Wedge or I were not accepted as Flight Officers, we still could have served in another capacity such as techs or mechanics, right?"

Ackbar looked grim. "No Luke, you would not have been able to be members of the Alliance Military in ANY capacity."

Everyone was reeling at this point.

Ackbar then turned to General Madine. "General, if you would continue?"

Madine nodded and then stood.

"Keeping in mind what the admiral has stated, I need to take you back to the Battle of Yavin," Madine said.

"As you know, the first two runs down the Death Star trench were by Gold and Red Leaders. Dodonna had a reason for this. They were the premier marksmen in the Alliance available. Gold Leader never was able to get off a shot before he was destroyed. Red Leader DID launch his torpedoes before he was destroyed. However, they did not go in."

He paused. "Red Leader had you Luke, Wedge, and Biggs hold back. He knew you were our best hope if his efforts failed."

Everyone exchanged glances wondering where Madine was going with this.

"He put you in charge Luke, because you were Obi-Wan Kenobi's Apprentice and he trusted in a Jedi to take command and get the job done."

Luke protested, "But I wasn't a Jedi. Ben had only given me several hours of instruction!"

"We know that now Luke, but Red Leader did not. Plus Biggs was an ex-Imperial officer and pilot. Wedge had some previous combat experience with both the Alliance and before."

After a moment Luke spoke again, "Well even if Wedge and I were not there and assuming he was given cover, Biggs could have made that shot."

Madine and Ackbar both were silent for a few moments.

Ackbar then said, "No, he could not have. And even if Wedge was an Alliance Flight Officer, he would not have been able to either."

Ackbar let them all absorb this and continued, "The fact was, you, Luke, did not use your targeting computer."

Luke nodded. "I heard Ben tell me to use the Force so I switched the computer off."

Ackbar looked at Luke. "Because you used the Force and not the computer, you made the shot."

All voices then rose expressing their bewilderment at this statement.

"General Madine," Ackbar said, taking a seat.

"Do you all recall the urgency the Alliance had in pursing the next version of the T65 X-wing ANq 3.6 tracking computer?"

All nodded.

"There was a reason for that urgency. The Alliance did extensive study of the Battle of Yavin. They were trying to determine why Red Leader had missed the portal, even though he had a clear path at the moment. They looked at speed factors. But Luke, in fact, was traveling at a much faster speed. Finally it came down to one definitive factor. Red Leader used his targeting computer and Luke did not."

A collective gasp went out from the group.

Solo let out a string of Corellian and other curses. Chewbacca added a few more.

Wedge finally gathered his thoughts and asked, "So the targeting computer was off and could not have hit the portal?"

Madine stated, "Yes."

A long silence ensued.

Suddenly Leia exclaimed in horror, "But if only Luke could have been successful with that shot and if he would not have been allowed to join the Alliance had that new law been in place…then the Death Star would not have been destroyed…and…."

Ackbar replied, "Yes, and Yavin and untold worlds would have been erased from existence."

A collective gasp went up in the room.

The ramifications of the law were not lost on any of the group. If that could have happened in the past, it could happen in the future. They realized now why Ackbar had called them all together. The law was the issue, not just the rejection of one pilot. Who else who might have particular skills that one day might be needed? Skills not available due to the law.

Every individual then said that they had to get that law removed and asked what they could do.

Ackbar and Madine had a few suggestions. They all then turned to Leia who was speaking rapidly into her comlink.

Leia address those gathered. "It is time to act. I have just called an emergency session of the senate. You will all be expected to testify."

Everyone in the room gave a firm response. They would do their duty to protect and defend the New Republic and uphold democracy, just as they had always had with a united front.

Several weeks later…

The Solo home had been a whirl of activity for a bit. Finally, Leia's and Han's children were in bed, and the dinner was prepared and ready for their guests.

Leia sighed. "We did it Han. The NR military is free of the threat of elitism and open to all who wish to join."

The door chimed and Han went to greet the first of their guests for the evening.

Admiral Ackbar, General Madine, Luke Skywalker, and Wedge Antilles, Chewbacca, and a short droid soon entered.

After appropriate greetings had been exchanged, Leia said, "We have asked you all here for a small celebration."

"What are we celebrating, Leia?" Luke said. "Are you expecting again?" Luke joked.

"Hush, Brother," Leia replied.

Han looked at Luke in worry. Three small kids were about all he could handle at this point. Did Luke mean…?

Luke just smirked and shook his head no.

"As I was saying, we are here for a celebration," Leia continued.

Everyone exchanged looks of anticipation.

Luke broke the silence and asked, "So what are we celebrating, Leia?"

"We are here to celebrate the repeal of the law to require credentials for admission to the NR Military," Leia announced.

All present cheered. Their efforts in working with the Senate had been successful.

"Moreover, we have drafted legislation that will help the NR military gain the best officers, but will also enable others to enter and serve. Those in the enlisted ranks will be given tests, much like we did in the Alliance, to see what educational needs they may have. Based on the results of the tests, they will be granted a rank, non-commissioned or commissioned and will be provided with the educational training that they need to move forward, while still being able to perform service to the NR," Leia announced.

Wedge spoke up, "That sounds good. But what about those new officers? Are they just accepted because they hold a degree or credential of some sort?"

"Good point Wedge," Leia replied. "No, their credentials will be looked at very carefully to ensure they are relevant. In addition, they too will have to undergo a battery of tests."

Madine spoke up, "And who will be designing those tests?"

"Well that is something I wanted to ask all of you for assistance," Leia responded.

The room was silent for several minutes. Finally Ackbar said, "We will help in any way we can."

The others nodded in agreement.

With that, the group retired to the dining room.

A bit later, Madine said, "Princess, thank you for the excellent meal."

Leia nodded graciously.

Luke, who couldn't resist, added, "And I am eternally glad you didn't cook it, Leia."

Leia looked daggers at Luke and then suddenly burst into laughter.

Everyone else joined in as well.

They had succeeded in their quest for a better NR military. And they were just content to enjoy the united friendship of all those present.