A few days ago I watched Les Miserables and I liked the movie, especially this one song called Do you hear the people sing (the link to it is in my profile) and I just can't get it out of my head since the moment I heard it. So it was playing in my head for freakin millionth time (not that I complain, it's an awesome song) and then well it just wouldn't be me if I hadn't have thought about Rebel Alliance's struggle against the Empire. Go ahead and read, I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, nor do I own Les Miserables.

DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING

Everything was silent and all one could hear were thunder and raindrops that occasionally fell on the helmets of soldiers standing behind the barricades. The clouds were dark above the heads of the rebels. Not a word was spoken, but there was nothing to say anyway. They were greatly outnumbered and nobody even tried to deny it. Leia Organa, Princess of the late Alderaan glanced around herself and saw many nervous and fearful faces. The Empire discovered the location of Rebel base and there was no time for the evacuation, so the Command agreed that they should try to evacuate as many people as possible, while the ground troops would keep the attackers busy. It was a strategy Alliance used many times before and this probably wasn't the last time. If anyone survived that is. Mon Mothma wanted Leia to leave on one of the transports, but she wouldn't hear any of it. She wanted to stay with the troops, the same as she wanted to stay on Alderaan with her people almost a year ago.

Then a voice broke the silence.

Do you hear the people sing?

Leia turned to see the source of it and found that it was a male Zabrak just a bit younger than her. His voice was clear and somehow soft.

Singing a song of angry men?

Leia knew the song. It was actually a poem one of their members wrote. When he died in a battle a few months before, his friend found it while searching though the stuff they would send back to his parents. He showed it to Command and it became an unofficial anthem of Rebel Alliance.

It is the music of a people

The voice of an older man joined in and a moment later another one, this time a voice of a woman standing only few places away from Leia.

Who will not be slaves again!

Then even more soldiers began to sing along making the song sound powerful and strong. Among the voices was one which Leia knew well, a voice of Luke Skywalker who stood on Leia's right. She looked at him, watching the breath escape his lips into the cold rainy day. Lightning pierced the dark clouds and lit the faces of all those around her. Suddenly she felt like a part of something bigger, a magnificent feeling she didn't have for a very long time and even though she was never a singing type of person she quietly joined the song in next line.

When the beating of your hearth

Now almost everybody sang facing forwards in sheer determination, except for Han on Leia's left, who stared disbelievingly at her and Luke. His expression clearly told what he thought about this crazy bunch of idealists as he preferred to call the rebels, but he was there and that's all that mattered to Leia.

Echoes the beating of the drums

Leia turned forward, but she could see with the corner of her eye that Han too joined the song, even if it wasn't as enthusiastically as the others.

There is a life about to start

There were many lives about to end, as far as Leia knew and even though the feeling of belonging consumed her, the fear just didn't want to leave her slightly shaking body.

When tomorrow comes.

Tomorrow. What if there won't be a tomorrow?

Will you join in our crusade?

If Leia wasn't so very nervous she would have smiled at the choice of the words, but the more she thought of it the more appropriate it seemed. Yes, this was a movement against the abuse and oppression. This was a battle, no, this was a war of different beliefs.

Who will be strong and stand with me?

Strength was such a curious thing. One never knew how strong one was until being strong was the only choice one had. It was one of such times and Leia knew that every single one of her companions would stand strong till his or her last breath and so will she.

Beyond the barricade
is there a world you long to see?

Maybe they were a bunch of idealists as Han called them, but at the same time, they were much more than that. They were people with a vision, people who wanted a better life, a life they could enjoy in peace and not in constant fear. Yes there was a world they wanted to see.

Then join in the fight,
That will give you the right to be free.

Leia wasn't much of a fighting type, though she could fight well, when it was necessary. When she was younger she was a pacifist and strongly against any aggressive movements, but after years of watching horrible things happen all around her she changed. Even before Alderaan. She realized that sometimes fighting and war were necessary evil or as popular Correllian saying went: If you wish for peace, prepare for war.

Do you hear the people sing?

Yes Leia could hear the people sing. But they were much more than just that, they were her brothers, not by blood but by the idea and the symbol that was Rebel Alliance.

Singing a song of angry man?

Some of the voices she heard indeed trembled with anger. One of such voices belonged to Wedge Antilles. The Imperials killed his girlfriend Mala Tinero and even though he joined the Alliance to avenge her death, Leia doubted the emotional scars Mala's death caused could ever be healed.
Then there was Zev Senesca, who along with his parents helped the Alliance get fresh supplies through Kestic station where he lived. When the Empire discovered the involvement of the station with Rebellion, the station was destroyed killing beside Zev's parents all of its inhabitants including many innocent men, women and children.
Leia also knew Wes Janson's story. He was a part of the squadron named Yellow Aces and was on the list of the pilots who were recruited to fight in the battle of Yavin. However Wes fell ill and his best friend Jek Porkins took his place. Porkins never returned from the battle, leaving Wes blaming himself for his friend's death.
And then there was Luke, who lost his uncle and aunt, his best friend Biggs and his teacher Ben Kenobi. And those were just some of the stories Leia was familiar with and she knew that most of the people behind the barricades had very good reasons for being in this battle. Those stories, that Leia sometimes couldn't even bear to hear, were stories of ruined families, of destroyed homes, of parents burying their children, of brothers dying in the in the arms of one another. So many people lost so much, so many people, who were just like her, orphans without a place they could call a home.

It is the music of a people

The song was growing ever louder and everybody gave way to their emotions.

Who will not be slaves again

This time a Wookiee growled. Chewbacca figured Leia. How could she forget about him? He was just like so many of his race, a slave in the mines, until Han rescued him. Who would be able to just stand by the oppression under which so many of non-human races lived. It was known how Empire treated everyone who wasn't human. To them, they were nothing but tools they could use for the glory of their precious Empire.

When the beating of your heart

Leia's heart always belonged to Alderaan and it's people. When all those hearts were so cruelly stopped, hers started beating instead of every single one of them. After Alderaan everything changed, it was either her or the Empire. She will try to bring it down, for Alderaan, or she will die trying.

Echoes the beating of the drums

Those weren't the drums, those were the guns. She saw everyone preparing their own blaster rifle and she did the same as the large group of white armored stormtroopers restlessly pushed forwards.

There is a life about to start

Her life might just as well end in a matter of seconds. She somehow always expected the death in the hands of the Empire and she even embraced this fate, because it would mean dying for a cause she strongly believed in, but why was she suddenly so afraid? Weren't the things worth living for also worth dying for?

Han must have sensed her nervousness because he reached for her hand and squeezed it firmly. In normal circumstances she would have pulled away, but this time she didn't. She felt that his hand trembled just as much as hers did and yet his touch was so reassuring, so right.

When tomorrow comes

At that point voices around her were really loud, but so were the sounds of the thousands of boots coming in their direction. Leia saw Luke grab a flag which lay forgotten on the floor and she stared at him shocked when he climbed up the barricade. He weaved the flag that carried the symbol of the Rebel Alliance.

A memory overwhelmed her. She saw a young girl standing in front of large stone table, a man standing by her side protectively holding a hand on her shoulder. In front of them was a fabric with big red symbol across it.

"What is this, Dad?" asked the girl.

"This, Leia, is a symbol of hope"

It was the same symbol Luke now held in his hands. He stood alone, but resolutely, like a phantom of bravery waving the flag with red symbol clearly standing out against dark stormy clouds. Soldiers followed Luke's example, climbed the barricade and charged forward. Blaster fire filled the air. Leia gulped and turned to Han.

Not a word was exchanged between them. It seemed unnecessary, when the end was so near. Han squeezed her hand one last time and together they ran after Luke and the others firing along the way, hoping that every shot they make is a step closer to the dream that was the soul of the Rebel Alliance.

So this would be all, but I would be very happy if you told me what you think of it. Like it, hate it? Any opinion is welcome, especially because I was thinking of writing a short piece of what happened next.

I would also like to point out that I had to take a part of the song out since it mentions France and I really couldn't put it in Star Wars universe. More over that saying "If you wish for peace, prepare for war" isn't really Corellian, I mean duh. It's actually Latin and it goes like this: "Si vis pacem, para bellum". And yes I do beg your forgiveness for my occasional Latin outbursts.