A.N. Anyone been really excited for this? I've been. ; )
The next blast nearly knocked her off her feet, but Leia braced herself against the nearest tree, her rifle tucked tightly under her arm. Cautiously, she peered around, adjusting her rifle to the ready. The scene was an absolute mess and it was starting to remind Leia of battling angry cantina patrons. She quickly shook the memory away and reminded herself, this isn't a cantina fight, anymore, Leia. This is real and it's live. You have to stay focused. Another shot fired past her and Leia quickly responded with her own, bracing herself against the tree again. She fired until the responsive shooter stopped and Leia knew she'd gotten him. She darted for a new hiding spot and rolled her landing just behind one of the bunkers.
Leia Organa Solo was on Fedje with a team of Rebels who had been tasked with infiltrating an Imperial base and taking down their bunkers. It had been rumored that one of the bunkers stored information vital to the Rebellion, but Leia felt like General Madine and Mon Mothma had been over-using those words lately.
Ending her perfect and elegant roll, Leia found Luke there with the droid R2-D2, both working feverishly on unlocking the bunker's door.
"So." She sat down beside him and quickly looked behind them for any threats. "How're you doing?"
"I think I like it in my cockpit more," he quickly answered, his voice almost sounding afraid.
"What?" Leia smiled, joking with him. "Versus the freedom of space? And don't you like running missions with me and Han?"
Luke shook his head, pointing to a different tool on Artoo as he suggested to the droid that he try a new method. "Don't get me wrong. I love running on missions with you and Han. It's just . . . this is your guys' space and mine is in the tightly confined living space of an X-Wing's cockpit. That's all. I feel more confident flying than running around. It's almost like I can hear Old Ben's voice in my head, insisting I use the Force to do everything."
"You know he doesn't expect that from either of us," Leia tried to assure him, standing up to grab an Imperial and twist his arm back. She dropped her rifle, keeping it under her foot, and pulled out a smaller blaster to touch to the stormtrooper's chin. She let him drop and stepped forward to deal with more of the bucketheads. "It hasn't even been that long since they told us. They shouldn't expect that much from us. They don't, Luke."
"I know. It's just . . . Never mind. I don't know."
Leia shoved off another stormtrooper and fired several more bolts, taking out a few of them as they approached the bunker. "Well, I know. Now, I also know you're trying very hard over there, but you could you possibly try even harder and hurry up?"
"Chewie, watch out!" Han shouted, squatted at the wookiee's side while he fired at the onslaught of coming stormtroopers. The wookiee jumped as a shot hit his own weapon and it erupted into sparks. Growling angrily, he dropped his bowcaster and swept aside several of the Imperial soldiers. Han continued firing until the flood of stormtroopers slowed to a minimum. At which point, Han rushed for the Millennium Falcon and beckoned Chewie to follow. They hurried to the cockpit and prepared to make a mad run out of their hiding spot.
While over half of their strike team had gone to check out the bunkers they were to infiltrate, Han had stayed behind with the rest, waiting for news from Leia about the bunkers. All had been silent and calm until a sudden flood of stormtroopers had come rushing into the nice cave Han had found them to rest in and, without warning, had opened fire to alert the Rebels of their arrival. Han still had yet to receive word from Leia on their status, but he figured if the Imperials had realized they were here in the cave, they'd probably found Leia and the others, too.
Han sighed, plopping down into his seat beside Chewie. "Alright, buddy. Let's get out of here and check on Leia and the kid." In all honesty, Han wasn't too concerned about Leia. He knew she could handle herself. It was the kid, her brother, that worried Han. He was practically a newbie to life, but Han did have to admire the kid's seemingly natural skill in a cockpit. Han and Leia had taken a brief two-week honeymoon before rejoining Luke and the two Jedi on Yavin IV, the current base of the Rebellion. With no experience in anything, the Generals had decided to play around with Luke, throw things at him and see what he did best. The kid could hardly shoot a blaster or fare well in a fight, but, ironically, he'd fit in the cockpit well when Generals Madine and Rieekan were about to give up and had dumped the poor kid at Commander Wedge Antilles's feet. Biggs Darklighter had just stood there, laughing as he snickered to the others, "Told you the kid could fly!"
As soon as Luke and the others had landed, Madine had just sighed, handing Luke's Rebellion identichip to Antilles. "He's all yours, Commander," he'd said, walking off in amazement. Even Han had been impressed by Luke's maneuvers and skills. They'd pitted him against Darklighter for a comparison and then the bets had started. Rumor had it the kid was going to be the next big thing in the Rebellion. Han just laughed when they said that. They had no idea. The kid and Leia.
Han was genuinely surprised at how well the two were taking things. He knew that Leia had been struggling ever since she'd come to the realization that Anakin Skywalker went by Vader these days. She hadn't acted out like Han had predicted she would, which was good. However, he could see fear lurking just behind her eyes and it made Han's heart ache to watch it swim there. He figured she was trying to focus on the good. For her, that was everything she knew about her biological mother. The woman had been a senator like Leia; a queen before that even. Leia had taken that and turned it into her main focus on the subject, absorbing the irony of it and giving herself a new role model.
As for the other twin, Luke had been thrilled at the prospect of his life going straight from zero to hero. The whole Jedi thing had baffled him, but he'd been eager to start his training and had subscribed himself to the whole thing. As far as the Force went, Leia seemed hesitant, fearful. She showed no interest for it, but assured Jedi Olin and Kenobi that she understood the situation. Han supposed that was good, too because he didn't understand.
Han activated the comm unit on the Falcon's control board and switched to Leia's frequency. "Sweetheart, it's me. How're you doin' down there?"
"Well, the Imperials found us," his wife's voice came back.
"Same. Is your team about ready to get going?"
"We've already lost a few. Let's get going now."
"Alright. Meet me at Point 5-9-0 and we'll race out of here."
"Copy that, General," Leia said with love and relief in her voice. The comm connection clicked off and Han reached for the Falcon's controls to bring his ship back around and land just behind the bunker field. He and Chewie met the rest of the strike team outside and called out their other own half to help ward off the stormtroopers and head out. In a blur of blasters shooting, the Imperials fell and the rest of the strike team hurried back to the Corellian freighter, Leia and Luke the last two heading back in.
"Got them all?" Han asked, accepting a quick kiss from Leia as she hurried on board.
"Yep," Leia nodded. "Just barely."
Luke was quick to put on a scorning look and he pointed at Leia's back. "But I got them!"
"Yep," Leia agreed, slipping down the corridor. "Just barely."
"We still need that information," Han said, turning back to the subject in a serious manner.
"And we have it," Leia assured him, reaching into her pocket for a flimsi sheet. She fell into her husband's chair in the pilot's place and keyed the pattern into the general computer. "By the way, we're going to need to wipe the computers again once I gain the access and override the Imperial pass code."
"Then, maybe we should wait." Han rushed over and Leia laughed, handing him the flimsi. "We need to bring that straight to Mothma and Madine." Then, she muttered as she got up from Han's seat, "And out of here before the Imperials start following us."
"Agreed," Han said, dropping into his seat beside Chewie. He flicked a few switches and the Falcon came to life with lights and groans of proof that the rust bucket still worked well enough. Luke sat behind Chewie, at Leia's side. The cockpit passengers, buckling in, Chewie and Han took off.
"About time I get my star pilot back!" Wedge Antilles cheered as he came walking down the corridor. Leia, Luke, and Han turned to watch him approach and Luke smiled. Wedge clapped the young man on the back. "Tell your friends I don't like it when they steal you from me. I could have used you the other day! Our squadron had a nasty run-in with some loyal Imps. Probably weren't even soldiers. Still, they were causing us some trouble."
"Weren't you and the guys supposed to be making a run to Thyferra for bacta?"
Wedge took a step back and nodded. "Yeah. We were. We only got half the delivery, but I was hoping you could help us with the rest. We've missed you, Luke."
"Sure. Of course."
"I get that you're new and all," Wedge slung his arm back across Luke's shoulders and he glanced Han and Leia's way. "But, let me assure you, the ground forces aren't as cool as they want you to think. And they're definitely not as cool as us pilots. Even if Leia is one of our bosses. It's okay to ditch them."
Luke chuckled, catching Leia and Han's smirks. "That's alright, Wedge. They're not too bad."
"Whatever you say," Wedge said, waving goodbye and striding back down the corridor.
"Not too bad," Han grumbled as he and Leia came back to his side. "Come on, kid. You're already trading us in for your fancy new pilot buddies?"
Luke shook his head, ignoring Han's joking question. He sat down against the cool, duracrete wall and tried stifling a yawn. "As soon as we're done giving our report to the admiral and Mon Mothma, I'm headed straight back for the bed in my quarters. I'm tired."
Han nodded in agreement, sliding down the wall to sit with Leia. "Same. It's been a long week. Hopefully, Madine will get the idea that we aren't the only people here and use the other guys."
Leia's lips twisted into a tired grin and she asked, "What other guys?"
Han shook his head. He took Leia's hand in his and just held it there. "How does bed sound? I don't think I can stay up tonight."
"Bed sounds wonderful," Leia smiled, resting her head in Han's lap. "I think I might just fall asleep thinking about it."
Just then, a door a few feet down the hall opened and General Carlist Rieekan peeked his head out to wave to the three younger people. "We're ready for you guys, now."
All three of them quickly got up, straightened themselves out and stood tall as they entered the conference room to speak with the Rebel leaders. Standing around a wide, dark table were Mon Mothma, Admiral Ackbar, and Generals Rieekan and Madine. "Princess Leia," Mon Mothma began her greetings. "General Solo and . . . Skywalker."
"One of these days," Luke broke in. "I'm going to get myself some kind of title."
Mothma ignored the young man and spoke formally to them. "I already received the report you, Princess Leia, sent in. We are very pleased with this work; all the work the three of you have been doing lately. However, I'm afraid we must send you back out again."
"But we just got back," Luke was quick to object. Leia raised a hand just high enough for Luke to notice and he immediately stepped back. "Sorry," he muttered.
"As I was saying, we have another mission we're going to be sending you out on. It is considered to be of utmost importance and will be kept under the Rebel Alliance's highest level of security and confidentiality. This information and these plans are to be kept even from you three until further notice."
"Wait a second," Han jumped straight to his doubts, leaning closer to the Rebellion leader. "If this mission is so important, why aren't you telling us now what this trip is for? Why are you telling us now if you can't even tell us what it is?"
"General, consider yourself lucky. We are telling this to you now that you may prepare before leaving-"
"I guess I was just thinking it would be nice to know what to prepare for."
Leia stifled an irritated sigh, biting back any comment she had in mind. She still had so much to teach the smuggler and the farmboy about diplomatics and courtesy.
"The three of you will be told as soon as you are all boarded on a freighter and far enough from this Rebel base. Everything will be explained then, but we mustn't speak a word otherwise. You three are to keep this confidential, even the mere information that you are being assigned to this trip. Is that clear?"
"Of course, Mon Mothma," Leia grabbed Han and turned back for the door. "We'll await further instruction. Thank you."