It is a dangerous time for the Rebellion. With the help of Han Solo and the Rogue Squadron, Luke Skywalker has destroyed the Death Star. Darth Vader is missing, presumed dead. The rebels have left Yavin IV in fear of retaliation and set up a multi ship base somewhere on the outskirts of the rim in a desperate bid to lie low while the Empire searches for them.
The rebels know they are to the man, marked for death if they are found.
Low on supplies and in desperate need of additional manpower, Princess Leia has sent out Han Solo and a few others on reconnaissance missions in an attempt to recruit reinforcements and procure desperately needed supplies.
The rebels wait with worried hope, they have given the Empire a terrible blow, but they are not yet strong enough to win the war.
Princess Leia has set up a liaison with the prince of the Senali, a tall semi humanoid race of the Rutan system.
Gert covertly looked around the Rebel base, trying not to gawk like an awe struck kid. She mostly succeeded. She didn't notice Han grinning at her, remembering another green kid that had tried just as hard not to gawk. That same kid, a young, shaggy haired blond man walked over to her and smiled at Han.
"Another one?"
"Yah, picked her up causing trouble with an old buddy of mine."
"Any luck with CorSec?"
"Nah, they don't want the Empire hammering on them so they won't take sides either way. Not even the smugglers."
At this point, a young, dark haired Corellian joined them.
"No, you have to burn down their houses to get Corellians to get involved." He said with a trace of bitterness in his voice.
"That's not true Wedge, you can blow up their houses too." Han winked at Wedge in an obvious attempt to take the younger man's mind off why he had joined the Rebellion. "Hey Wedge, the kid is probably starving, go show her the mess hall."
Gert's eyes lit up at the mention of food.
"Don't get too excited kid, the last supply run got us six standard months of five standard year old Imp ration bars."
Gert's face fell.
"Han, don't give her a hard time. There was dehydrated nerf meat too."
Gert's face fell into a glum caricature. "I don't think I want to know what desert is..."
Han, Wedge and Luke looked at each other, grinned, and said in unison "Gort Egg Pie!"
Gert gave them all a pained look. She then glared at Han. "Fine but don't start calling me skinny again."
Han blinked at her innocently. "Aw, common Gert, that was eight years ago." He grinned, "besides, I thought you were cute. For a kid."
"Han, you think anything with legs is cute."
Luke smiled behind his hand. "Um, Han, is she any relation to Leia?"
"Only gender wise." Han growled.
Wedge laughed. "Common, the food isn't as bad as we made it sound, and I'll introduce you to the Rogue Squadron."
"Really?"
"Of course."
"Great! X-Wings are Soooo… cool." At this point she started spewing out technical jargon about the relative speed of an X-Wing against a Tie fighter for both vacuum and atmosphere and why though it is slower, it's maneuverability and shielding and adaptability made the X-Wing is a superior craft.
Wedge and Luke exchanged a look. "Flight crew?"
"Definitely."
"Know how to use a hydrospanner?"
Gert raised an eyebrow sarcastically. "I didn't take shop classes to meet boys." She grinned, "besides, they didn't like it much when my projects worked and theirs did not." Her grin grew, "even when they sabotaged them."
"Sabotage?"
"One time, they stole half the parts out of a wooden model of a sky hopper turbine."
"What happened?"
"I remade the missing parts in two days and aced the project anyways."
"Definitely flight crew." Wedge said with a grin. "Common, the Rogues should be in the mess hall. Tycho will love you."
Gert shrugged at the suggestion and followed Wedge down the hall. She noticed the walls were miss matched prefab that has seen better days. Some of them still had the familiar grey marks of blaster burn. Someone had obviously attempted to clean them off and re-paint them but that was like shaving a nerf. You never really finished and the nerf didn't look any better for it.
The mess hall looked slightly better as someone with obvious (hammerheads?) taste had painted the walls in soothing shades of greens and blues. A group of young men and a couple of other species lounged in one corner like pirates. Some of them at one point, probably were.
One of them was apparently telling a funny story as all but one man who was sitting with a dour smile, were laughing at him. Wedge pointed to each and named them.
"Hey Wes, knock it off for a change so I can introduce you all to your newest flight crew member."
"Huh? But Wedge, I just got to the good part about the… hey… she's pretty. Ok, what's your name gorgeous and when will you marry me?"
Gert gave Wedge a speaking glance reminiscent of a woman betrayed. "call me Gert, and not a chance fly boy, pilots make aggravating husbands."
"Hey! I'm a nice guy!" Wes' tone was obviously injured "Wedge, tell her I'm a nice guy."
"So was General Annoth they say." She said, referring to an Imperial General renown for philandering.
"Wedge, she just accused me of being a flirt. Are you going to stand for that?"
"Not only does she know snub fighters, apparently she's a good judge of character too. Nope, I'm going to let the lady have her dinner because Han never fed her today."
"Han fed me, I'm just always hungry."
Wedge grabbed a tray and ordered enough food for an average person. When he brought it to the table she gave him a funny look.
"What?"
"Is this all I get today?"
"Well, no, I just figured that was how much you would eat."
"Would you feed this much food to a wookie without expecting him to eat your arm too?"
"Er, well, no, but you aren't even a normal sized human let alone a wookie. And I'd feed the wook his food raw."
Gert rolled her eyes in exasperation and ordered more food while she gobbled down what she had.
A foot away, Wes was turning several shades of green watching her eat. Gert looked up between mouthfuls. Her brows furrowed in concern. "Hey, are you ok?"
"Yah, I just got over the Hesken Fever a week ago is all."
She pushed the food away and dumped it down the nearest disposal.
"Hey, you didn't have to do that."
"I can eat later. It was bothering you. Besides, the color of your face was spoiling my apatite anyways."
Han, Luke, and Leia walked in followed by Chewie and the droids. Han and Leia were bickering and so were the droids. Gert looked at Han and Leia, her eyes widened a moment and then her face went carefully blank. Only Wes, who was still staring at her, noticed.
Luke grinned at Wedge. "We've got a job to do."
"Yah? What are we blowing up this week?"
"Remotes."
"How boring, I was hoping for Imps."
"That's next week. This week we get to show off."
Wes, Tycho, and Hobbie perked up at that.
"We're gonna go impress locals again aren't we? Will we get to be planet side too? Will there be pretty girls?" Hobbie was doing his best to look like an enthusiastic puppy.
"Well, there will be a formal reception at the Prince's mansion after the air show that you all are invited to attend." Leia said.
Hobbie's face fell. "Pretty classy girls." Hobbie grinned again. "Classy girls are ok. Hey Wes, there's gonna be girls."
Wes grinned at Gert "I don't need pretty girls, I'm going to marry Gerty."
Gert started to get the panicked look you see on the face of someone after you hand them a live thermal detonator.
"Hey, she might want to marry someone else Wes." Hobbie pointed out.
"Yah? Like who?"
"She might want to marry me." Tycho said softy.
"You? Nah, your too quiet. I bet she likes someone fun."
"I'm fun."
"Tycho, buddy, you're an ace pilot, but I'm not adding fun to your description." Hobbie continued. "But she might like someone nice. So you're in the running with me and Wedge and Luke."
"Hey! I'm nice!" Wes pleaded again.
"That's because you think she is cute." Hobbie said with a smirk.
"Well, she is, but I'd be nice even if she wasn't."
Han, in an attempt to take pity on Gert, told them that the planet was populated mostly by Senali. Unfortunately, that just made them realize Gert might be the only pretty girl there.
"Do you have a dress?" Hobbie asked. "Hey Han, does she have a dress?"
"How would I know? I guess so."
"Does she have a pretty dress though?" Hobbie turned to Wedge. "Leia has pretty dresses. They look about the same size. Wedge, make Leia loan Gerty a pretty dress."
"Hobbie! You don't make Princess Leia do anything." Wedge emphasized the princess part a bit to remind Hobbie who he was picking on.
Leia smiled in amusement. It had been a while since anyone but Luke and Han had teased her so it felt good. "It's all right Wedge, he's right in a way, she will need a formal gown. She's a bit thinner than me though so I'll raid Winter's wardrobe and see about shortening the hem for a night, let out the bust too I think."
"You don't need to go to all that trouble, really, I don't need to go."
"Hey kid, if I have to go to this Imp torture session, so do you."
"Han, it is not a torture session, it is an opportunity to gain a valuable ally and some much needed supplies and funds. Unless you have changed completely and don't want to get paid. I'm sure General Rieekan will be glad to hear that." Leia said in a mocking senatorial voice.
"But I don't see why I need to be there. I'm nobody." Gert said uncomfortably.
Leia gave Gert one of her best Imperial Princess smiles. "Of course you need to go. Senali believe strongly in social correctness. You have to go so you can show Wes and Hobbie which fork to use."
"Oh." Gert's expression was somewhat strangled as she grabbed Han's vest on the way by, nearly dragging him off his feet in doing so.
"Hey!"
"We need to talk." Over her shoulder she said "Please excuse us for a moment, we have urgent business." Once outside the mess hall, Gert lit in to Han. "Are you crazy?! Han! I can't go to a formal function with dignitaries and the force knows who else! I'll be recognized! I'll be arrested! I'll be sent back to CorSec. Hal Horn will give me that sympathetic, fatherly, disappointed look again and this time he won't be able to make it look like I escaped Han! You can't make me do this!"
"Gert, settle down, Leia recognized you."
"What?! How?!"
"You look exactly like your father, that's how. Haven't you ever noticed?"
"My father has a gut and a bald head, no, I never noticed." She said sarcastically.
"Gert, you may be built like your mother but you have your father's eyes. They are a dead give away."
"Exactly Han, that's why I can't go. You know there will be bounty hunters there."
"Gert, Horn reported you dead. He eye witnessed you being vaped. No one is looking for you." He paused, "and even if anyone is, Leia is very good at making herself hard to recognize, I'm sure she will do the same for you."
"Han, I can't impose on her. She's… well, she's Princess Leia Han. I can't."
"You say that word a lot. Don't let her hear you using it. You can and you will. Leia is ok. She can be a bit uppity now and then but she's ok. You'll like her once you know her. She's classy like you but she's got heart."
"But Han…"
"Look Gert, you can whine about this all day but you are still going. Leia will make you, and she will do it real nice so you think it was your idea in the end. You're going Gert."
Gert sighed. "You owe me Han."
"Yah, put it on my tab kid."
They walked back into the mess hall. Gert looked contrite. Han's expression was covertly smug.
"I guess I'll need a dress." Gert sounded reasonably glum.
"Hey, I bet you'll be even prettier in a dress." Wes smiled at Gert hopefully.
She flashed him a polite, slightly panicked and defensive smile.
"Yes," Leia said, "she will. Luke, Han, why don't you go over what the Senali expect with Wedge and the other Rogues while Gert and I go find something drop dead stunning to wear after." She left the room, never looking back to see if Gert followed or not. She knew she would anyway.
Once out of ear shot, Gert made one last attempt to avoid the situation. "You really don't have to do this you know. I'm sure you have more important things to do than this."
Leia smiled over her shoulder and fell in step with Gert. "Gert, I'm not doing this to be nice. Han obviously cares about you, and anyone Han cares about, I care about." Leia looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think most of the Rogues are going to become your big brothers as well. This is all the family I have left Gert. You are a part of that family now."
Gert said nothing as a rather sizeable lump had formed in her throat. No one but Booster and Mirax had called her family in a long time. It hurt just a little.
Leia realized immediately that Get wasn't comfortable and altered her approach a bit. "With your father's beautiful eyes and that lovely pale complexion and dark hair, I imagine you look stunning in green, but everyone has probably seen you in green so I think we should go with a silvery blue to match your eyes.
Gert looked around Winter's room in interest. Leia had led here there and was rifling through an assortment of dresses. "Won't she mind?" Gert finally asked.
"Knowing Winter," Leia said with a fond smile, "she'll just go buy another one." She pulled a blue shimmer silk floor length gown out. It was the color of a Mon Calamari ice burg and had only small fluttering split shoulder sleeves.
Gert looked at the neckline for a long moment. "Ah, Leia… don't you think it's a bit…" Gert put her hands up helplessly.
"Too low?" Leia asked.
"A bit." Gert exclaimed.
Leia looked at the dress again. "A little, but you will look beautiful in it." Which was an understatement in Leia's estimation, the low neckline would accentuate Gert's already long slender neck and the color would emphasize the bright blue under the grey in her eyes. She'd thought about loaning Gert some jewelry as well but she's noticed the large pale blue grey glow stone Gert still wore around her neck on a silver chain. It's simplicity would emphasize how pretty Gert was rather than how sparkly she was. Besides, she'd seen the look Wes had given the girl, his interest was more than just casual flirtation even if he didn't realize it yet.
Gert didn't think she would look beautiful in anything but she could tell anything she said along those lines would fall on deaf ears. Leia was not known for being changeable. In most things it was a trait Gert really admired. Under the circumstances, she would have been happier dealing with Han. She could bully Han.
She got settled in that night and the next day they loaded up for the trip further out on the rim. It was a twenty standard hour trip and Gert spent most of it worrying her chest was going to fall out of that dress at some completely inappropriate time. Pirgi Repeatedly chattered at her about what it was like to be part of the Rogue's main ground crew. Gert half listened and thought about what she thought about the people she'd met already. One in particular came to mind over and over until she got disgusted with herself and worried about her dress. A pretty pair of brown eyes were not going to make her lose her head. Especially not ones on a pilot.