Author's Note/Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or storylines created by George Lucas, J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, Michael Arndt, or anyone else involved in the Star Wars verse. I created a few characters but not the wonderfully phenomenal universe they are written into. Thanks for reading, and I hope y'all enjoy! There's no Poe in this chapter, but he'll come into the second one! This chapter is setting up the main OC character and the story!
CHAPTER 1: Ambush on Yavin 4
This was a first. Working with an X-Wing fighter…one that has seen real battle. It was the highest honor she could think of in her twenty-five years of living, as she had been in love with them since she first laid eyes on one. Sure, Alida had been inside the cockpit of a starship such as this before, but she'd never gotten the chance to do the repairs on one, much less on such a time constraint. She worked best under pressure. It was a fantastical dream that she was afraid she'd wake from if someone pinched her hard enough.
Sliding her fingers delicately over the control panel, her heart felt like it could burst out of her chest with pride of what she had accomplished for this pilot over the last week. Hearing said pilot call her name from outside the ship, she mumbled under her breath about the impatience of men before exiting the cockpit and standing on the loading platform.
"Would you relax? I'm done!" Hands on her hips, the affectionate blonde stared him down as he made his way over to her. "Look, the main problem you had was the overheating of the engine, and that was easily fixed since I got the part you needed. You had a few minor repairs that I managed to fix in the cockpit as well as make a few adjustments to your droid. He's as good as new." As if to agree, the tiny droid rolled over and beeped out a positive note or two, sending a pleasant smile to the blonde's face. He was one of the cutest droids she'd ever seen.
"So…I am free to leave?" Her attention returned to the man standing before her. His weight shifted from foot to foot, his eyes darted across their surroundings constantly. The pilot's name was Snap, or that's the name that was given to her, at least. A week ago, he had landed on Yavin 4 and begged for help to repair his ship, and while most did not want to touch an X-wing for fear of First Order repercussions, Alida jumped at the chance to help.
Taking a moment to think about all of the problems and whether or not there were solutions, she used that time to glance over the beautiful ship that she was honored to have in her hangar. It was gray and blue in color and fairly new, and it was more technologically advanced compared to some of the other ships she'd had to work with in the past few years. Hypernautics was quite possibly her favorite thing in the world, and she made it her business to know anything and everything about every single ship out there.
"Am I free to go?" The question was asked again, not in a rude or loud way, yet the urgency still captured her attention. Looking back at the dark-haired man in his dark green jacket and brown pants, she gave a single nod of assent before smiling and putting out her hand.
"She's all ready to fly!" Alida replied brightly. "Why don't you load up the droid, and I'll figure up the total of what you owe. X-wings get a special deal from me."
"Miss Salk, I cannot thank you enough for everything. I won't forget this. You've helped me more than you know," Snap's nervous features were somewhat relaxed, his mouth tugging upwards in his own version of a smile as he shook her hand gruffly and then released it so that he could go hook in his droid. She opened her mouth to say that he was welcome, that it was a pleasure to have him there. However, all calm activity ceased as soon as the hangar door opened, and a group of Stormtroopers came marching inside. Alida did not even have time to blink before the first shots were fired. The pilot threw himself on top of her with a yell, and he rolled them behind a large group of crates. Blasters were going off and hitting the items around them.
"What's going on?" she shouted over the noise as her heart drummed inside of her chest, a reminder that she was luckily still alive. Without looking at her, Snap drew his own blaster from inside his jacket and steeled himself for a fight before chancing a glance down at her.
"They're here for me…it was why I needed this repair done so quickly…" he explained as quickly as possible before peeking over the crates and firing off a few shots. "I'm sorry to get you involved, Alida. I was hoping I would be gone before they traced my trail."
"You are flying with the Resistance…you're on a mission, aren't you?" she whispered in awe, and he continued to aim and shoot without responding. His lack of response was enough of an answer for her, and she flattened herself further against the boxes as the shots got closer and closer to her head. He was a pretty good shot, as Stormtroopers fell left and right, though there were still around five or six of them left.
"I need you to take this disk. Get out of here. Find a man named Caluan Ematt. He needs this. I'll cover you. Go!" The Resistance pilot turned to her with his command, slipping a small piece of hardware into her smaller fingers before jumping out and ducking behind more crates as he blasted two more troopers off of their feet. Alida's curiosity overrode the order to leave him behind, and she glanced out to watch the gunfight. However, as her new ally tried to get a better vantage point to shoot, he was struck by one of the blaster shots and fell to the ground. Without even a single thought, she stood and rushed towards him, hearing the whining of the droid as it shot out in front of her to cover her with its own mini barrage of gunfire.
"Oh no! No no no!" Sliding to her knees next to the pilot, she picked up his blaster and took a few deep breaths before turning and firing it at the closest trooper. As he fell, the young woman, who had never killed a man in her life, stared at the gun in her hand for only a heartbeat before the droid was screaming at her in binary. "Okay…okay! I hear you! Snap, are you okay?" She shook his shoulder, pulling them behind a box as she heard the guns rage on. "Say something!"
"Go…" he groaned out, holding his lower abdomen. Her eyes followed his to see that he was bleeding from a deep wound, and she tried not to scream. She lived her life peacefully, repairing ships and staying out of trouble. This? This was nothing she'd ever seen or dealt with before. "I can't…I can't fly…" he continued throatily. Having made up her mind, she looked down at the man in her arms with a determined yet bleak expression.
"You're going to give this disk to Caluan yourself." She turned her pleading, tearful gaze to the droid. "Help me…help me get him in the ship. I-I can try to fly it…I know a few things…" With the help of the agile little roly poly droid, Alida used whatever strength she could muster and half-dragged the quickly weakening man into his fighter. With her back turned to the last two troopers, she never saw it coming. A sudden and white hot pain seared through her side, and she cried out in an instant response. Her hands almost dropped the man from her grip, but her adrenaline spiked and prevented her from feeling the pain that her body was telling her to feel.
"C-C'mon, buddy! C'mon!" As soon as they were inside, Alida's hand pulled the canopy shut, and to her relief, it closed them off from any further gunfire. "All right…now what? What do I do?" Trying to remain calm, she laid the wounded man down against her seat and slipped in next to him, halfway on top of his shoulder. Instantly, a bout of nausea struck as she fought the claustrophobia overwhelming her. She faced down the now daunting controls in front of her, but she flipped the power and began the take-off procedure as well as she could.
"W-Where do I need to go?" she asked hastily as her eyes remained locked on the switches and buttons she was currently using to lift them up into the sky. "Talk to me…Talk to me Snap! Stay with me!" He was wheezing out the instructions to the best of his ability, and she followed them to a tee. The droid unit had moved up into its position and began to help her fly the ship. It knew where they were going…it would help her find the way.
"No! No no! Oh holy Hoth!" It had not even been a minute since they left the hangar, and she heard an explosion behind her. Another ship flew behind them, and upon checking the radar screen, she knew it was a tie fighter. One of the troopers must've continued the chase, and she had no idea how to fight him. Alida was not a soldier. She'd punched a few faces here and there, but an actual battle? Taking lives and shooting guns? Her father would have a full blown panic attack just thinking about it.
"BB…what's going on?" Hearing the pilot's low moans coming from behind her as the droid made little noises, she felt a pang of guilt wash over her. She was not about to give up and let him die. They would make it to that base and save his life. The droid began to talk to her and instruct her on battle moves. In that moment, she was intensely grateful for knowing the binary language of the droids, as she had to deal with them on a daily basis at her job. He was telling her how to shoot the laser cannons and how to use light speed, and she retained every piece of information given to her.
"Now…n-now!" Snap commanded hoarsely as their ship took a hit, and it shook from side to side. Ignoring the intensifying nausea hitting her body, Alida waited for the tie to spin around and face them before firing directly at it and striking its engines. The ship exploded in front of them, and immediately her fingers pressed light speed. She felt herself being slammed backwards into her seat for a long moment before everything returned to normal, and she was looking straight at a greenish gray planet ahead of them.
"D'Qar…home…" Hearing the faint whisper of Snap behind her, she winced as she moved slightly in the seat and pushed the ship to its limits, her concern for the pilot overwhelming her. She couldn't lose him. He had saved her life, and now it was time to repay that debt. The blonde maneuvered the X-Wing down onto the planet and managed to land slowly and safely on the base, though her hands trembled against the controls the entire time.
"Snap! Welcome home!" A booming yet warm voice came over the headset, and Alida unstrapped herself to push open the canopy. As soon as the light from the planet shone into the cockpit, she began to tug the gravely wounded man off the ship.
"Please! M-My name is Alida Salk! Please help! We…we need a medic! Snap was shot!" she screamed out in a panic as they almost toppled over, not wanting to let go of him until she knew he would get the help he needed. Everyone seemed to move at once, as certain people began an onslaught of questions while a swarm of medical personnel rushed forward to take him from her, and others were simply trying to get a better look at both her and Snap. There were nothing but kind and worried faces in her line of sight, and she almost breathed out in relief that she was somewhere safe. "He saved my life! We…we w-were ambushed by Stormtroopers…in my hangar…"
They gently coaxed him from her terrified grip and brought him inside, his droid rolling quickly behind them with an anxious yet constant beeping, and she pulled the highly sought after disk from her belt to stare at it for a moment. What was so important that Snap was willing to die to protect it? When a group of other pilots began to surround her with words of gratitude, that's when she could finally take note that her adrenaline was quickly wearing off. What replaced it was a searing agony unlike any she'd ever felt before. With a soft cry of pain, her already blood-soaked hand slid to her side.
"We need another medic! The woman's been shot as well! Hurry!" The last thing she was aware of before succumbing to darkness was a cluster of worried faces and a demanding voice telling her to stay with them.