Throughout the whole flight to Dantooine, Padmé was starting to get excited to show Obi-Wan the Rebel Base. After all, it had been her life's work for years, and she hoped to prove to Obi-Wan that she was capable of making a difference in the galaxy too.

But she didn't anticipate what was coming when they arrived at the base.

Bail and Mon, upon being notified that Padmé had returned, hurried out to the hangar to meet her. She could tell by the looks on their faces that something was wrong. "Is everything all right?" she asked them, climbing out of the ship with Obi-Wan and Luke.

Bail and Mon looked surprised to see the former Jedi Master, but they only spared him a hurried greeting before Mon responded to Padmé. "I'm afraid the battle had an effect on the morale of our people. Many of them deserted us yesterday, just took their ships and left."

Padmé closed her eyes, her stomach knotting in dread. "How many people do we have left?" she asked, even though she really didn't want to know.

"Between the battle and the people leaving, we lost about seventy percent of our group."

They all fell silent. Padmé couldn't meet their eyes.

"I shouldn't have gone to Coruscant, I should have stayed here to help you," she said hoarsely. Inspiring and motivating people was her specialty. She probably could have convinced some people to stay.

"No, no, don't blame yourself," Bail argued, but his words sounded feeble. Mon and Obi-Wan didn't say anything to agree with him.

"I just wanted to get away. I wasn't thinking about the implications..." Padmé sighed and anxiously brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "I could have waited a few days."

"Well, we can't change the past. We must move forward," Mon said. The others nodded in agreement.

Then Bail spoke up. "So what do we do now?" His voice was upbeat and decisive, indicating that he was undeterred by these challenges.

Mon sighed and pulled out her datapad. "That's what we have to figure out."

* * *

They all got up early the next morning, well before the sun had risen, to discuss a plan to rebuild the Rebel Alliance, if that was even possible. For once, Padmé didn't have to worry about Luke, who was getting a day off school to receive a lightsaber lesson from Obi-Wan. The only problem was that Padmé felt that she was missing out on a pivotal moment in her son's life. She longed to see the look on his face as he held a lightsaber for the first time; that moment could never be replicated. But the Rebel Alliance needed her now more than ever.

The first thing they had to do was estimate the damage done to the base. Padmé, Bail and Mon all walked around the base with datapads, making a note every time someone reported a low inventory or whenever they discovered a part blasted off a ship. Then they gave all the numbers to Mon, who spent several minutes making calculations.

"It would almost be cheaper to completely rebuild all our inventories from the ground up," Mon said, sighing and resting her forehead on her hand. "A good amount of our supplies were destroyed or damaged in the battle, and as if that's not bad enough, many people who deserted the base took supplies with them! The indecency..."

"I can't blame them, honestly," Padmé mused. "They might not have anywhere to go. Their jobs were here with us."

"But that doesn't make it right for them to steal our things."

"I know."

"So, is there anything else we need to do, now that we've calculated all our losses?" Bail asked.

"I don't think so," Mon replied. "We just need a plan now. A real plan."

"We need to look at this much more critically," Padmé said softly. She knew the others wouldn't like what she was about to say. "We need to decide if all this is even... worth doing... anymore."

Bail jumped to his feet and began to pace the room. "Of course it is! Who will stand up to the Empire if we don't?"

"I know, but just think about all this. What have we done to deter the Empire's progress? They ignored all our petitions and obliterated us in our first battle. We haven't saved any lives; we've only lead people to their deaths. And now we're pretty much right where we started, and it will take a very long time to get back to where we were. I don't want to just waste time and resources."

"But who pays the biggest price if we fail?" Bail argued. "We do. The three of us. This was our idea. People may die for our cause, that's true, but they make that choice for themselves. The common person won't suffer more than they already do if a group of rebels fails to take down the Empire. But if we succeed, the Empire is hurt, and that helps the people they oppress. We have to remember who we're really doing this for. And I don't know about the two of you, but I'm willing to endure the consequences of our failures in order to have a chance, any chance, of taking down the Empire."

Padmé and Mon exchanged smiles. It was clear that Bail wouldn't give up on the Rebel Alliance, so how could they?

And he was right. They weren't really harming anyone except themselves if they failed. All those people who had died for the Alliance had known exactly what they were doing.

"We can't let our peoples' deaths be in vain," Padmé said slowly. "They would want us to keep fighting."

Mon nodded. "Agreed. Let's go talk to anyone who's left and tell them exactly what you told us, Bail. Convince them to help us rebuild the Alliance together."

As they walked out of the office, Padmé was so lost in her own thoughts that she barely even noticed when Bail's hand brushed lightly against hers. He mumbled a quick apology and stepped aside. Padmé didn't say anything about it.

"What if we do fail though?" she asked him. "What if we harm people in the process?"

"With the right people on our side, we won't fail." He glanced down at her and smiled. "I believe that. You would do well to believe it too."

(Author's Note: Yay, I finally released a chapter on time! Probably because this one is a bit shorter, but that's okay. So there's some new stuff for you to be wondering about in this chapter... ^.^ Please don't forget to comment! I love hearing from you all! Thanks for all your votes and feedback so far, and thanks for reading!)