War was, of course, a matter of waiting, boredom, terror, then paperwork. Even for rebel armies. But this was beginning to seem a bit ridiculous.

The rebel encampment of Yavin 4 had waited with bated breath for the false moon to arrive. They'd found the tracker on the Millennium Falcon easily enough, and so far scouts had returned all reporting the same thing.

The Death Star was headed straight for them.

And then it never arrived. Instead the last sentry sent out returned, shaken to the core, and unable to give a coherent report.

The atromech R3-A2 was left to report what it could while medical had a look at the Lieutenant Norra Wexley: the Death Star began to malfunction, suffering damage to shielding and hull before explosions began to rupture the massive station. Escape pods had been launched yet many of the ships already orbiting the station had returned only to purposely crash directly into the hull leaving only a few small vessels to navigate the destruction.

The yellow mech also explained that Lieutenant Wexley had begun to experience fluctuations in her vitals after the first shield malfunction. Her flight readout confirmed the astromech's analysis of the pilot; her heart rate had started spiking mid way through her scouting mission, accompanied by a rising body temperature and alterations in her breathing. All signs appeared as though she had started panicking and had been unable to calm herself. So R3-A2 had taken control of the ship and set auto-pilot for base.

Princess Leia stood with the rest of Rebel Command questioning the astromech. It didn't seem possible that their luck had turned this far. With a glance at the generals, Leia commed medical inquiring about Wexley.

The response she got wasn't very encouraging.

"She's been sedated. It appears that she's been experiencing an acute panic attack for nearly an hour before arriving back to base. Any questioning on our part about what happened has been met with either no response or a panic reflex."

"Thank you. Please keep us updated."

General Dodanna paced across the room before speaking

"We have to know the status of the Death Star. It wasn't one of ours that caused the malfunctions?"

"I doubt it. We need to send a small team. How close was Gold Nine when the shields began to fail?" inquired Leia.

The mech let out a series of beeps translating to no closer than eighty thousand meters, but no further than three hundred thousand meters.

"Close enough we could be sending our pilots into a trap. Fantastic."

Deploying Red Squadron, Command waited to hear word of the possible destruction or at least dismantlement of the Death Star. They didn't wait long. Almost immediately Red Leader commed with the damage report.

"Red Leader to Command, the Death Star is no longer functional. I repeat the Death Star is no longer functional."

As the squad flew through the wreckage, life signs began to ping their scanners. Escape pods had been jettisoned and a few ships had managed to avoid major damage. By and far, though, it seemed as though the entire station had simply fallen apart.

"So what do we do with the living?"

"This area seems to be mostly intact."

"Hey, I got a live one!"

"Should we shoot the ships?"

"Do not engage unless provoked, keep on the look out. Have your astromech record life signs, how many and what areas," ordered Commander Dreis.


That day went down in history as the Triumph of Yavin, the Conquering of the Death Star.

What was left of the machine was destroyed and left to form a ring of debris around the gas giant.

Nearly twenty-thousand beings had been found alive in the wreckage; half were gathered up and sent to various planets under rebel influence, while the rest were left for the Imperials to find. Large portions of the prisoners were almost catatonic when recovered, and those that were conscious and able to answer questions began to develop signs of anxiety and paranoia. Three of the recovered officers were stationed on the bridge when the weapon began to fail. Their recounting of the incident was... interesting to say the least.

Princess Leia stared at the officer across the table from her. She remembered him from the bridge. He had stood there and watched as Tarkin destroyed her planet. All of them had stood there and watched. To her, all of the soldiers, all of the beings working aboard the Death Star, were complicit in the genocide and destruction of her people. They should all face charges against the galaxy and crimes against sentient beings.

Her thoughts must have shown on her face because Sergeant Stihl immediately dropped his gaze to the table and his shackled hands. He swallowed before whispering, "It was our fault. Our fault, Princess. Ours-" That was all they could get out of this one.

According to the other officers, he had been working nearest to Tarkin when the General had died. Apparently the alarms had started to go off, warning that the entire station was beginning to loose integrity, as if they had passed close to a black hole. The engines and reactors had set off a series of explosions deep in the stations core. While guns and machinery misfired and exploded, destroying guardtowers and hanger bays. It was just after the alarms that Tarkin had started screaming.

Sergeant Torent had started crying as he recounted Tarkin's death and the destruction of the bridge:

"He just started screaming and then he fell. And, and he started to seize? I don't know, suddenly everyone near him started yelling and screaming. And Stihl, he ran right at me, we ended up in the same pod. But he was talking about it being his fault? Something about Princess Leia."

That wasn't the first of the Death Star prisoners declaring something as their fault, followed by exclamations about Princess Leia, Princess Leia. Always Princess Leia.

By the next conflict with the Imperials, the captives' call for the Princess escalated. They cried for protection or for strength, with it switching from trooper to trooper with little to no reason.

Gloriously, the Rebel Alliance troops took to the newfound invocation with delight. Especially the newly formed Rogue Squadron as open comm calls of "the Princess take you" and "by the fucking Princess" at the enemy became common.

Rebel troops followed by igniting the idea that Leia would lead her troops into battle, that she fought on the ground and in the skies, and that with a glance she created ruin and despair across an entire system.

Imperial troops were also spreading their own propaganda of the Princess.

The remaining Death Star soldiers had been dispersed throughout the military without regard to their various mental wellbeing. Those soldiers began recounting to their comrades about visions of death and desolation on the Death Star. And how hallucinations of Princess Leia had come to some of them whispering of fault and disgust. How she had come back to destroy them. For their guilt and tyranny.

In the wake of Aldaraan and the destruction of the Death Star, Imperial defectors hit a record high. While rebellion recruitment continued to climb.

After all, as one newly defected Imperial said, "This is where the Princess has taken up arms."


AN: I still hate the formatting on this site if something looks super messy give me a shoutout and Ill fix it.