IMPORTANT NOTES:
This story is set two years after the battle of Yavin IV, placing it generally between the first two movies of the original trilogy. Events depicted throughout the story will maintain consistency in timeline placement. For example, the Battle of Hoth will NOT be an event depicted in this story, however as a base on Hoth is constructed by the Rebels in 2 ABY, events taking place in said base may occur and will thus not ruin continuity. As such, important and well known events will be strayed away from, with less known but equally important ones touched on. The focus will be of the two main characters and stick to a close canon as possible. Some parts may be stretched in order to facilitate a growing relationship, or an important event in this story to occur, but will promptly be brought back.
I welcome all critique, review, and comments as this is my first story. I had this idea many years ago, and have had it sitting on my hard drive since it's start. It's relatively planned out (reference pictures, diagrams, etc. of vehicles and weapons in order to facilitate descriptive writing) and has a plotted story. My hopes are to not only expand this story, but also to learn how to write in a more descriptive and meaningful way.
Sadly, however, updates will not be scheduled or timely due to college and work affairs.
With that said, I hope you enjoy reading what I have, as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Chapter One – First Impressions
As the clouds rolled across the sky, day slowly turning into night, she couldn't help but smile. She wondered just how long it had been since she last was able to relax. All the excitement the past couple of months had taken a toll on her. She had seen enough crates of Booster Blue spice for an entire lifetime; and that's saying something considering she smuggled for a living. To be on Naboo again was such a great feeling to her. To be lying in the wild grass, the trees scattered around her, it felt amazing. She was in the jungle now. Not too far from Theed, but just enough to be alone. She never thought she'd ever feel this way. She was always more comfortable in space. Never felt comfortable staying in one spot for too long. It must have been the job, enough time out in space and even the most hardened of people can crave for ground beneath their feet again. A star slowly shimmered in the night sky. No, it was more than that. This was home, her home. She was born here, raised here, it's only natural she'd feel this way. Even if she was more comfortable in space, she'd always have a spot in her heart for her home. She sighed lightly. A slow breeze blew her hair in front of her eyes. She pushed the strands behind her ear. She felt safe here, as ridiculous as it sounded. Snap. Something just broke. Through her occupation, she'd gained a heightened sense of awareness. Her surroundings started to become clearer, her concentration now coming back after the day dreaming. That noise was definitely a branch snapping. Normally she wouldn't have thought anything of it, but this time she felt uneasy; her instincts told her something was wrong, and she always trusted her instincts. She reached for her blaster, aiming it towards the noise. She didn't know what to expect, but there was definitely something out in that brush. It was a dense area as well, hard to see into. She strained her eyes, trying to see any hint of what was out there.
As if on cue, a helmet had shot out from the direction of the thick brush that she was aiming for. It hit the ground and slowly rolled coming to a stop at her feet. It was as white as a common flower on Corellia, and yet it shared neither the beauty nor kindness. It had a sickeningly familiarity to it. It was a scout trooper's helmet. It was the sign of a solider. A grunt followed soon after the realization. As if following the helmet, a figure had been thrown from the brush, hitting the ground hard with yet another grunt. A hint of annoyance emanated from it. It was clear that this figure was the owner of the helmet; a male trooper with dark brown hair clad in the signature armor. As he laid there on his back, he had no time to react as a Tusk Cat pounced out as well, viciously slashing and clawing at him. The trooper brought his hands up, protecting his now unarmored head. Thankfully, scout trooper armor was strong, even if made to be light weight. Even the bracers on his forearms were enough to protect him for a little while. That's all he needed though. With a quick left hook, he was able to disorient the creature enough to get his feet up underneath and push it back, giving himself enough time to get to his feet. "You damn animal!" he shouted as his hand reached down to his belt, unclasping a pouch. He swiftly pulled out his knife. "You knocked my helmet off... now you're starting to piss me off." He gripped the handle tighter, running agilely towards the tusk cat. Without a moment's hesitation he had the knife under the creature's throat; he pulled in one fluid motion, and the tusk cat fell to the ground, motionless. "I really didn't want to do that..." he sighed, placing the blade back into his pouch. "You just wouldn't leave me alone. What animal takes the time to stalk something for over a mile?" He asked the corpse, knowing full well he wouldn't get an answer. He scratched the back of his head, breathing in deeply and slowly exhaling. His hand slowly went back to his side. For a moment he seemed to be in deep thought as he stared at the corpse. He turned his head to look behind him. "Oh, so that's where my helmet wen-..." he stopped himself, realizing now that he was at the wrong end of a blaster. "Eh, ugh, hold on now... just a minute..." he began; he put his hands up, showing nothing was in them. "I know I just suddenly popped up out of nowhere, but that's not any reason to be pointing a blaster at me! Is it?!" He seemed nervous; his calm and determined demeanor that he just had not even moments ago had disappeared. He held an awkward smile as he looked wide eyed at the barrel of the blaster.
She almost started to laugh. She quickly brought up her other hand to cover her mouth, trying hard not to start a laughing fit. Who was this guy? For an Imperial solider he sure didn't seem qualified. Sure, he had some good moves, but anyone with their life on the line could have done something to get away. He, he was just laughable. He wasn't what you'd expect a soldier for the Empire to be. He was practically a normal person. He stared at her with confusion, and slight embarrassment. He looked away quickly and folded his arms. "What's so funny?" he asked with a twinge of annoyance. He finally turned back to look at her. Even though she was trying her best to hold back her laughter, he could tell she was amused. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't help but notice how she looked though. She was pretty raggedy, her hair pulled up into a ponytail, and the shirt on her greased up. He finally snapped out of his trance. "Hey, could I have my helmet back?" She slowly started to calm down, lowering the blaster slightly while a wide smile formed on her face. "Well, well, well. So you're a Storm Trooper, huh? You could have fooled me." she snickered. He couldn't do anything but sigh. "Well Mr. Trooper, I don't know what you're doing out here, but I'm a little interested." Her look changed, it was more serious now, her eyes looking at him intently. She raised her blaster back up, aiming dead center on his forehead. The trooper's eyes widened immediately. "Oh come on now," she said "you didn't think I was going to just let you walk away, right? I want the truth, what were you doing out here? Were you stalking me?" Once again he felt embarrassed. She smiled again, loving the fact that she could so easily embarrass the poor man. "Actually, I'm a scout trooper. And, I wasn't following you;" he began "I was on a routine patrol. I was ordered to patrol a one-thousand meter radius north by northeast of Theed." He smiled. "I got a little side tracked with the stars, and I guess this little guy," he gestured towards the corpse of the Tusk Cat "got pretty interested in me. He was stalking me for quite some time. I thought he'd just eventually leave me alone if I kept walking, so I deviated from my patrol, hoping he'd lose interest." He turned around, startling the girl as he pointed at the corpse. She gripped her blaster tighter, finger now resting lightly on the trigger. "But NO! You couldn't just leave me alone, could you? You had to flank me, catch me off guard, and knock my helmet off!" he started flailing. She just stared at him. Was this guy for real? He couldn't be a trooper. She'd never known one to act like this before. "You're not like the other troopers I've seen." She began. He stopped flailing, and turned back to her with a puzzled look. "What do you mean?" he asked. She laughed, "Well, most troopers I've seen don't act like that. They're more stoic, kind of irritable, and definitely wouldn't be talking with me as if I was an equal." He stood there, nodded, and placed his hand on his chin. "Huh, I never thought of it like that before. Why wouldn't they take you as an equal though? You seem pretty capable to me and I just met you." He smiled brightly. It was her turn to feel embarrassed this time; she blushed. "HA!" he yelled. "I finally got you back!" he laughed, proud of what he'd accomplished. She was even more embarrassed now that she felt caught off guard. "Sh-shut up!" was all she could say. He only chuckled, smiling again at her. "Hey, it's ok. It's just a natural emotion to feel embarrassed. Absolutely nothing wrong with that." She stared at him, "Emotion? I thought troopers were taught to push their emotions aside for the greater good of the Empire?" He sighed, "Well, according to you I'm not your average soldier. Who wants to sit and pretend they don't feel anything from their work? I'm not a clone, you know. Every action I take, I feel something because of it. Whether it's regret," he looked down slightly at the corpse beside him. His gazed quickly shifted back, "or even pride if it's something for the greater good. Why would I hide that? That's what makes me human." He looked up towards the night sky. Her eyes softened. Why was it he had this effect on her? He seemed perfectly normal. She felt, comfortable around him. Her instincts told her she was safe. But he was a Imperial solider, she was a smuggler. After being chased for so long by the Empire, was it really alright to feel comfortable near one of them?
Unbeknownst to both of them, through their conversation a signal was being sent through the trooper's helmet. "TK-3149 this is squad leader, you have not sent in your bi-hourly report, please respond." A minute later, "Trooper, please respond. You're late with your bi-hourly report." A few more minutes later, "3149 if you can hear this, we're sending a small squad to your location to check on your status, squad leader out."
The sun began to break through the horizon, slowly bringing the surroundings more vibrancy. The trooper looked towards the horizon, closing his eyes and breathing in deeply. "Dawn, already? Time flies, I suppose. What I wouldn't do to be able to fly as well." One of her eyebrows rose, "You've never flown?" She was surprised, an Imperial solider who never flew? He was definitely unique. "I haven't gotten any assignments yet for space. Besides, this is my home. I've never left this old rock," he said it with a laugh. "Young blood, eh?" she couldn't help herself as she teased him. He could only smile. He turned to look behind him. A moment later he looked to his right, worried. "What's got you so worried trooper?" He looked at her and held up a finger to his lips. Steps could be heard from around the brush, and suddenly a voice penetrated the silence. "TK-3149, are you here?" The trooper looked towards where the voice had originated. He yelled back, "Over here!" Four Storm Troopers ran out of the brush, fully armored. "We've been sent by the squad leader to check on your status, you haven't sent in your bi-hourly repo-…" the one speaking stopped talking as he looked at the woman. He brought his weapon up and aimed it at her; surprise consumed her as her eyes widened. As did the trooper she was once talking to. The rest of the squad raised their weapons, aiming at her as well. "Don't move!" the one yelled. "TK-3149, are you alright?" He couldn't understand what he was talking about, of course he was alright. He'd been talking to this woman since the Tusk Cat had attacked him. Why were they aiming at her as if she was dangerous? He looked back at her, seeing she was frozen with fear. But there was something else on her face that he couldn't quite read. What exactly was it? At that moment, he realized the problem. She had her blaster pistol in her hand, and his helmet in front of her. He brought his hand up towards his forehead, and realized he was bleeding from when the Tusk Cat had attacked him. Now he understood. This situation looked as if she'd been the one to hurt him, as if she was holding him hostage. The woman blurted out, snapping him back from his thoughts, "You set me up?" She was looking at him, angry and… that's what it was, he realized. She looked hurt; upset. "This was a ploy so you could wait for backup?!" she yelled out to him. The four Storm Troopers took more of an aggressive position, the one yelled at her. "Don't move woman! Assault on a soldier of the Empire is of the highest caliber punishment!" He couldn't believe they were accusing her of hurting him, she didn't do anything, in fact, he thought he'd scared her more than anything considering he popped out of the brush so wildly. He started to explain, "Calm down TK-4468, this isn't what you thi-…" he was cut off. "Don't worry TK-3149; we'll make sure this woman knows not to assault Imperials. Don't let her escape men!" The other three Storm Troopers followed his orders; they started to walk closer to her, still holding their aggressive stances. She was still looking at him with such anger, she quickly came to. She needed to get away, how could she let this one man… this one Imperial get the best of her? She pulled her blaster up, ready to fire at one of the Storm Troopers walking towards her. They saw her raise her blaster and stopped in their tracks, now with their fingers on the trigger. "Don't even think about it woman! We will fire!" the one yelled again. She stopped halfway up. She didn't know what to do. She was surrounded; there wasn't a way to escape this time. How could she have gotten captured like this? She'd gotten away so many times, in much worse conditions. Why was it so easy for that one trooper to completely change her actions? If it weren't for him, she'd never have fallen for a trap like this. She cursed herself for letting this happen, for letting him affect her like that. She was a smuggler. And he was an Imperial solider. She had to try and get away. Even if she couldn't, she wasn't going down without a fight.
Before she could react, the helmet-less scout trooper ran at one of the other troopers. He quickly grabbed his blaster rifle, pulling it out of his hands and tossing it to the ground. He used his right hand and performed an uppercut, catching his victim off guard. He sank downwards, and kicked his leg out, pulling off a leg sweep. The off guard trooper fell, hitting his head hard on the ground, knocking him unconscious. The others had turned their attention towards the assailant, aiming at his head. "TK-3149 what are you doing?!" Hearing his call sign, he looked at the one who had talked, and ran towards him. Thankfully they weren't far away; else if they fired while he was running, he'd never be able to make it. This time he kicked the weapon out of the troopers hands, dug his foot into the ground that he had just kicked with, and spun his other leg around smashing it into his target's helmet. The others tossed their weapons on the ground, knowing full well they couldn't fire or else cause harm to the one being attacked. He saw them coming, and with a quick flip, kicked off the ground back flipping as his foot caught one of them under the helmet, causing them to fall backwards.
She didn't know what to do. The scout trooper she'd just accused of laying a trap for her was now fighting the other Imperial troopers with an amazing speed and strength. She watched as he fluently attacked them, each move chaining into another one seamlessly. He wasn't giving them any chance to counter. She couldn't take her eyes off him; he was fighting in a way that almost looked like a dance. Spins, flips, sweeps; it was all there. The last storm trooper dropped to the ground, breathing heavily. "Why are you doing this? You're a traitor!" the trooper screamed. He flinched. He knew what he was doing. He knew all too well. They accused her wrongly; he couldn't let them hurt her. He kicked the trooper in the helmet hard, knocking him out. It was his turn to breathe heavily, tired from the exertion. He turned around and walked towards the woman. Her blaster was still raised. He walked up and put his hand on it, guiding the barrel to his chest. "I'll give you a choice," he began to say in a quiet, solemn voice; "You can shoot, and take how you feel out on me because I can see how mad you are. Or, you can just run, and get as far away as you can." They were close, really close now; her gun was pressed against his chest plate. She knew a pointblank shot like that would still easily kill him. She only looked at him, straight in his eyes. They were soft, sad even. "H-.." she tried to speak, her mouth was dry. "How could I kill someone who just saved me?" she finally finished. He too was looking into her eyes, and smiled softly. "Then I suggest you run." He said. She didn't understand him. He was such a kind person, how was someone like him an Imperial scout trooper? She quietly asked, "What about you?" He looked at her puzzled. Suddenly he laughed. She was taken aback, she was worried about him and this is how he reacted? "You really surprise me you know that? You've just been in a life or death situation, and you don't even know me. Yet, you're worried about my well-being?" He continued to laugh. She smirked. The way he explained it made it seem comical. "Well, to be honest, I'll probably be branded a traitor and executed now. But hey don't worry about it, shit happens." He smiled as bright as he could at her. She couldn't believe him. He was going to be put to death and didn't seem to care! "What's wrong with you?!" she yelled, hitting him upside the head. He looked at her surprised, holding the side of his head. "OW! What was that for?" She only looked at him sternly, "You're coming with me, and we're getting off this planet." His eyes widened, "You're really going to take me with you? You don't even know me!" A hand began to raise up to hit him again. "Ok! Ok! I get it! I'm coming with you!" he quickly said. She smiled, and holstered her blaster. "Good. Looks like you just got your orders to fly." She smiled at him and turned around, walking away. He could only stand there, watching her walk away. Slowly, a smile formed on his face. He quietly whispered to himself, "I finally get to fly…" and with that, he picked up his helmet, and started to follow her.