Ever notice how I drop these chapters completely at random, at horrible hours of the night (Like, 3 a.m. right now). I apologize lol, it's like I'm trying to quietly slip in chapters without anyone noticing even though this is my writing baby I love and adore receiving compliments for, haha!

ANYWAY, enough of my rambling.

PLEASE review as always (even though it's just a connecting chapter, sorry).

And as always, ENJOY!

"Mother…Mother, we're coming out of hyperspace."

Luke's soft-spoken words roused Zelina from her nap, one hand reaching out to remind herself of the ceiling above the bunk before she sat up. She brushed the hair out of her face and rubbed at her eyes, stifling a yawn as she looked to see Luke still standing beside the bunk with Threepio and Artoo waiting just behind him.

"Did you get any rest?" she asked as she got to her feet, moving to pick her bag back up from where it had been stashed during their trip.

"Not that much, no," Luke admitted a little sheepishly.

"Some is better than none."

The ship gave the familiar shudder of reverting between realspace and hyperspace, telling Zelina that they had officially reached the rebellion. A nervous flutter went through her stomach, as well as a squirm at the thought of all the old faces she could be seeing again, soon.

Ten years she'd lived without anyone knowing her from before—now she'd have her past connected with her name once more…and it scared her, to a degree.

All these people would be expecting a Jedi General from the Clone Wars, but she'd changed drastically while on Tatooine. She could still lead if she needed to, but if they were expecting a tranquil Jedi Master, they were in for a rude awakening.

One step at a time. If you try to plunge right back into things, you're going to drown. Remember how to swim, first.

She glanced at Luke as the thought crossed her mind, making a mental note to teach him to swim once she got the chance.

There weren't exactly ample opportunities to teach survival skills for a range of climates on Tatooine.

"You remember the rules?" she asked Luke casually as they made their way to the Falcon's hall, waiting casually by the landing ramp.

Luke wilted slightly, but nodded. "Don't join the Rebellion yet, and try to keep my name to myself."

Zelina felt sympathy pull at her heartstrings at the downcast edge in his expression. He probably hated that the secrets were continuing, that he couldn't entirely be himself yet like he'd thought he'd be able to once they left Tatooine. Not to mention, he—like his father—valued honesty. Loyalty meant he'd keep secrets if he had to, but he tried to be as honest as possible.

That also probably came from the fact that Zelina had always tried her hardest to be as honest with Luke as possible, maybe even more-so than she'd been with Anakin.

As for joining the Rebellion, he'd been chomping at the bit to get involved, be a Jedi, and make a difference for years now. He wanted to jump right into it now that the chance was finally here. Zelina was a far more experienced, a little more cautious, and—thankfully—the one in charge.

But she also understood his restlessness.

Gently, she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Chin up—we can still do our part, and I'm sure they'll have plenty for us to lend a hand with. For now, you should be bracing yourself for a culture shock."

Luke looked at her quizzically. "What do you mean?"

A wry smile played across her lips, and she couldn't help but answer cryptically as her hand dropped away again. "Not every planet is Tatooine."

Personally, she was looking forward to seeing Luke's reaction to a planet—or in this case, moon—that wasn't made up of sand and rock. It would detract some from the plans she had in mind for after this Death Star crisis was handled, but she was sure those plans would still garner a priceless reaction from Luke, too.

The ship was jostled as it settled on solid ground, quickly followed by the sound of pressure releasing and the hum of the ramp lowering. Before the ramp could even finish lowering, Leia was with them, which prompted Zelina to step aside so the Rebellion would see a familiar face before they saw four strangers.

Leia started down the ramp before it finished lowering, ducking under the floor of the Falcon as she stepped down onto the weathered stone ground beneath and disappeared from view. Zelina nudged Luke and nodded towards where Leia disappeared.

"Come on, we probably don't want to lose sight of her if we wanna know what's going to happen," she told him, already making her way down the ramp. Luke stayed at her side as they descended, which gave Zelina the perfect chance to watch for his reaction to the jungle moon.

Ducking her head low as she cleared the floor of the Falcon, Zelina took in the stone layered space they'd settled on, realizing that Han had settled the ship inside of the temple Leia had said the Rebellion was stationed in. Turning her head, she could see a thick forest just beyond the mouth of the temple, the tangle of jungle a shocking sight of green after so long on Tatooine. Still, Zelina took a moment to close her eyes and breathe in the scent of earth and fresh air, complete with a hint of past rain. It clashed with the scent of the hangar they were stationed in, of metal and oil, but she could still smell it, a welcome scent after so long of arid, sandy desert.

As she let out an equally long breath, she opened her eyes to sneak a peek of the young man beside her. Luke's head was craned upwards to look at the vaulted ceiling of the ground floor hanger, walls covered in vines crawling across the stone surfaces. He already had awe dawning in his eyes before his gaze even reached the sight of the jungle, expression lighting up at the sight of the X-Wings that resided in the hangar before he finally caught sight of the thick wash of green outside of the temple. Zelina had to hide a smile as a wonder-filled shock flickered across his face, roaming eyes now glued to the green beyond.

Leia was speaking with someone a few feet ahead of them, an older man with a large white beard—someone Zelina guessed was important to the Alliance. Whatever they were talking about, if they had passed the topic of pleasantries and condolences, it was probably something they wanted to hear. Zelina laid a hand on Luke's shoulder, drawing the young man's attention away from the expanse of jungle and back to the present situation.

Before Zelina could say anything, Han made his appearance, descending the Falcon's ramp with a harsh scowl on his face. Zelina's eyebrows rose at the smuggler's expression, deciding he probably wasn't going to say anything if she asked…or that she was going to get a hot-headed, one-sided opinion.

"Did I miss something while I was asleep?" Zelina murmured to Luke. The young man took one look at Han and seemed to instantly know what Zelina was missing.

"Leia thinks the ship's being tracked," he explained. Zelina's reaction was instant.

"Oh, definitely."

Luke stared at her for a few seconds, as if he was waiting for a punchline of some kind. "…I'm not picking up on any sarcasm."

"Because I'm serious," Zelina replied, gesturing behind them to indicate their escape from the Death Star. "Our escape was rather easy—if they really wanted to draw us back in, they would have sent far more than four TIEs that were trying harder to simply buzz the Falcon than get in a kill shot or disable the hyperdrive. They're definitely tracking us."

Luke looked shocked, even a little alarmed. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because there was no point—if I'd insisted that we stop somewhere and look for a tracker before we arrived, the Empire would have found us before we could find that tracker, and we'd be right back in the mess we'd just escaped. If the plans Artoo has have a weakness somewhere in them, we'll probably have a better chance here," she answered.

Luke seemed to reluctantly agree with Zelina's reasoning, though he still looked upset that she hadn't said anything. She would have, but her mind had been focused on other things—things that she could do, and the rest she needed if she was going to stay ready for more action.

"You could have at least said something," Luke muttered.

Zelina chose to let the conversation end there, turning her attention instead to Leia and the older man with her as Han, Chewbacca, and the droids joined their small party.

"…information in this droid is our only hope," Leia was saying, gesturing towards Artoo as the astromech droid wheeled up to them. "If we don't stop the Empire here, no one will be able to stop them," she added grimly.

As she finished speaking, a group of pilots hurried forwards and picked up Artoo to carry him almost reverently away so that the Death Star information they so desperately needed could be extracted. That, however, would take some time.

The man Leia had been addressing turned to face the rest of their group, appraising the smattering of Force users and smugglers. "While we wait…perhaps you'd like to tell me about your companions?"

Here we go, Zelina thought, taking care to hold back a reflexive grimace.

"This is Captain Han Solo and his first mate, Chewbacca, they helped to break me out of my cell on the Death Star so we could escape. And this is who I was supposed to be delivering the plans to—Jedi General Zelina Du'ahn, and her son," Leia introduced, graciously leaving out Luke's name so it could be their decision to let the man know Luke's identity.

His countenance seemed to perk up upon hearing Zelina was a Jedi—and a General from the Clone Wars, as well. He also seemed understandably confused when Leia introduced Luke as Zelina's son, and even more so by the fact Leia didn't introduce him with his name as she had everyone else. However, he easily overlooked Luke and the others, turning his attention instead to the person he seemed to think was the greatest asset. That, of course, was Zelina.

"General Dodonna. It's reassuring to know we'll have a Master Jedi on our side in the coming fight," the man said somberly. Part of Zelina told her to leave it alone, to let him have his misplaced hope, but she couldn't help but correct the mistake.

"I'm sure it is, General, though I must admit, I never reached the rank of Master while the Order was still standing, and I doubt the Order would consider me still a Jedi if they saw me now," she admitted evenly before reaching out to put a steady hand on Luke's shoulder. "He, on the other hand, is training to be a Jedi, and is already damn good at it, too. If anyone's going to be called a Jedi around here, it's him."

The general glanced at Luke doubtfully, to Zelina chagrin, but she kept the negative emotion suppressed, knowing it was to be expected. Luke was still what the clones would have called a Shiny. All training, no experience. Not to mention he was still young.

Though considering everything she'd done by the time she was his age, youth shouldn't have had anything to do with it.

"But those are conversations for another day," Zelina added softly, starting to walk to encourage their small group not to linger in the hangar. "What you said—is Obi-Wan and his family not here?" Zelina asked curiously.

Dodonna shook his head. "No. They were in another part of the galaxy when we obtained the plans, and are still light years away. Not that I would want them here right now, anyway. If the Empire is indeed headed here now, I'd rather the Alliance not lose all of our Jedi assistance at once in the case that we lose this fight."

All of the Jedi assistance…that meant if any other Jedi had managed to survive through the past twenty years or so, they hadn't stepped forward to join the Rebellion yet. Not that Zelina could blame them—the Rebellion hadn't been doing well recently when it came to opposing the Empire.

"How much of Alliance leadership is here?" Zelina asked, thinking that if this was the Rebellion's main base, surely there were quite a few of them here.

"Not much. After the fight over Scariff, our leadership spread across the galaxy so the Empire couldn't strike us from the galaxy in one move. There's only a few generals here besides myself, and now Princess Leia," Dodonna informed her, and Zelina did her best to keep her expression neutral.

What they had was what they would get, then. Not to mention, any discussions with Alliance leadership about Zelina and Luke's involvement in the Rebellion moving forward wasn't going to be discussed anytime soon. That might lead to some confusion later, but for now…for now she needed to keep her mind focused on the fact that Death Star monstrosity was most likely headed right for them.

"Well, whatever the situation is, we're ready to do our part in the coming fight," Zelina assured Dodonna, a small suspicion growing in her mind that this was most likely going to be a flight mission and not one that involved a suicide mission inside the Death Star.

"I hope you're not including me in that 'we' stuff," Han suddenly protested from where he'd been listening to the conversation, brining the group to a halt as he stepped around to get everyone's attention. "I didn't sign up for any of this, I signed up for a transport job that I still need to be paid for."

Zelina was about to satiate the smuggler, but before she could, Leia's temper flared to life in Anakin-like brilliance beside her as the other Skywalker twin snapped at him.

"You'll get your money. Then you'll be free to run from a fight worth something to go spend your credits on nothing," Leia said coldly.

Zelina's eyebrows rose at her tone, watching as the Princess turned on her heel and stalked deeper into the base.

She'd have to keep an eye on that one. Anakin's temper matched with the twins' Force potential, even if Leia's abilities were latent, was dangerous. Luke had a bit of a temper, too, but Zelina had worked to subtly curb that temper in the hopes he wouldn't make Anakin sized mistakes. It seemed nobody had bothered to do that for Leia—or at least, those around her hadn't known it was important to do so.

Sifting through the information Artoo held to find the weakness in the Death Star took several precious hours, hours that found Zelina getting more and more restless as the time passed. She had to skillfully dodge several questions about officially joining the Rebellion in that time, which earned her sharp, suspicious gazes from Leia more than once. Still, Zelina stuck to her plans, and she stayed close to Luke to make sure nobody tried to ambush the young Skywalker and pressure him into joining up when Zelina wasn't around. Partially to keep him by her side, Zelina had him join her in the hangar as they received a rundown of the controls of the Rebellion's favorite fighter ships, the X-Wings. Luke had a much easier time grasping the controls, considering X-Wings were extremely similar to the T-16 in controls. Zelina, however, hadn't flown in quite some time, since the T-16 had been Luke's ship, which meant she'd left it largely alone.

That didn't mean she hadn't paid attention over the years, and she'd still picked up a few holodiscs about flying and recent ship models. She'd never been the piloting addict Anakin was, but she knew she could still be handy in a fight if she could keep her skills from falling entirely out of practice.

Luke didn't have to go through the flight simulators after Zelina's explanation to the pilots who helped them about how skilled he already was and his experience with the T-16. Zelina, however, insisted that she be allowed several runs through the simulator so that she could figure out the controls and brush off the dust on her skills now while the Alliance was stuck in the tense hours of waiting and preparation before any action was taken.

So that's what she had been doing while they waited, and what she was doing even now. Luke would pop up between her simulations and give her a quick overview of what she could do to improve, reminding her of any controls she'd neglected in the recent run. She didn't put him down or belittle him in any way. He was the better pilot between the two of them, and while Zelina might have had more battle experience than Luke, including for starship battles, that experience was twenty years old, and Luke had been flying far more than her in recent years. Besides, he was probably enjoying the chance to teach her for a change—even if it did feel a little strange.

She was improving. She wasn't as clueless as she would have been had she just jumped into an X-Wing come time for a fight, but she was still lacking. Thankfully, what she was lacking in, she was sure she could make up for with her Force Abilities once she was actually in a fight. Then again, she'd been used to the Interceptors during the Clone Wars, a ship that focused on speed and agility. The X-Wings seemed to be designed to be well rounded in all areas of flight combat, including having a hyperdrive to allow it to escape.

She'd have to adapt. During the Clone Wars she'd had Anakin, who had been able to modify their ships to have a functioning but restricted hyperdrive, shields…

There was no use dwelling on those thoughts. She didn't have Anakin around to modify ships to their liking anymore, not to mention there wasn't an Interceptor on the base.

Zelina grit her teeth as one of the TIEs in her simulator scored a glancing shot along one of the X-Wing's foils, now having to compensate for the damage in how she approached her piloting while she was also adjusting to the controls itself. She swung around sharply to place the offending TIE firmly in her scopes, firing a little too early when her old instincts kicked in.

You're expecting it to move to quickly—you need to give the ship long enough to get where you want it to be. It doesn't have the same agility as what you flew in the Clone Wars, Luke's voice reminded her in her head, and she forced herself to ignore her instincts for once in her life in favor of being a little more patient with the X-Wing.

She could shoot down quite a few TIEs now, and she wasn't constantly getting shot down as she had at first. Personally, she was pretty sure she was at least cleared for flight by now—at least she hoped she was. She was still going to try and improve in the simulations while she had time, so that she could erase as many doubts about letting her fly as possible.

She had an alert about the damage done to the TIE, but from what she could tell, it wasn't anything that would keep her from finishing the simulated dogfight. So she largely ignored the alert, only keeping it in mind enough to remind herself to make the necessary adjustments to her piloting as she continued after the TIE that had caused the damage in the first place. The TIE had the agility she wanted, and she felt a spark of jealousy that the Empire had the kind of ship she desired.

Well…sort of.

Taking more care in allowing the ship to get where she wanted it to before attacking, she made another sharp turn, waiting until the TIE lined up in her crosshairs to fire, which earned her the sight of the TIE's destruction. She didn't spend time reveling in its end, instead taking another sharp turn to face the remaining TIE forces she had to face in this TIE simulation. Of course, her ship was still in bad shape, so she would have to take care if she wanted to make it through this simulation intact.

Within moments she took note of where the remaining two TIEs from this particular round were flying, picking the one farthest from the others to speed towards. Her predatory approach wasn't far from what she would have preferred back in the Clone Wars, and old instincts helped her further separate the TIE from the other two, wedging herself between the ship and its group. A quick burst of fire pushed the TIE further away, allowing Zelina to follow close behind and start lining the TIE up in her sights. By the time the other two had swung around to target her, she'd already opened fire and destroyed the third, allowing her to turn her attention to the other two.

Luke watched from the sidelines as his mother neared the end of yet another simulator run, a small frown of concern starting to make it's way into his features. Up until now he hadn't been worried about his mother's ability to take care of herself. Now, seeing her run the simulators and struggling to adjust to the X-Wing controls, he worried about if she really would be all right up in dogfight.

She was doing better, yes…but not enough for him to feel comfortable with the thought of her going up and joining them in a fight. Though in the end, how he felt about it didn't matter—it wasn't up to him, and his mother didn't need his approval to join a fight. He was the one who needed permission.

As Zelina made it to the last two TIEs with some damage to her ship, someone came to a stop beside Luke.

"That pilot's been in there for a while now, haven't they?" came a voice a few seconds later. Luke turned enough to look at the dark haired man in the orange flight suit standing next to him, trying to place the indiscernible emotion he'd heard in the other's voice. Whatever it was, it wasn't anything positive like awe or respect. If Luke had to give it some kind of label, he would say something along the lines of, 'Who's trying to look like a pilot?'

"She's trying to get a feel for the X-Wing controls while she has the time. She's flown before, just not in any ships like an X-Wing. She's used to faster, lighter ships, so she's trying to overcome those instincts," Luke explained, doing his best to come to his mother's defense without sounding too defensive.

"She's used to TIE fighters?" the man asked, a note of suspicion creeping into his voice. Obviously that question was meant to fish for more information.

Luke bristled at the unspoken suggestion that his mother was an Imperial. "No. She used to fly Interceptors during the Clone Wars."

He could see the man staring at Luke out of the corner of his eyes while Luke refused to take his attention off of the simulator in front of him. His mother had just performed a well-executed feint—especially since her ship was damaged—and was closing in for the kill on the last TIE.

"She fought in the Clone Wars? Was she a Separatist?"

"What makes you assume that?" Luke asked indifferently.

"Well, from what I've heard about the Clone War, almost everyone who fought for the Republic were clones or Jedi."

"She wasn't a separatist," Luke said bluntly, hoping that was going to be the end of the conversation. The pilot seemed to take the hint, allowing a brief silence to settle between them as he shifted his weight. Eventually, the pilot spoke again.

"Well, I'm making the rounds to tell everyone that there's going to be a debriefing in about ten, fifteen minutes. It sounds like they've figured out how to take out that Imperial weapon."

Luke felt a cold thrill go down from his chest to his gut. This was it, then—he was about to be in his first real battle. A soft rattle made him look down to see a tremor in his hand had caused the latch on his father's lightsaber to rattle against the handle, and he quickly dropped his hand away from its relaxed position on the weapon so no one else could see the tick.

Finally, his mother finished off the final TIE, the simulation lingering for a few moments before it powered down. Zelina nimbly leapt from the simulator, a disgruntled expression showing she still wasn't satisfied with the outcome. She wanted more progress, though considering the rebels were about to meet for a debriefing, she was officially out of practice time.

Zelina spotted Luke, making her way over to him as her eyes did a quick scan of the man standing next to Luke. "Better…but not anywhere near where I want to be. I miss my old ship.

"Are you sure you want to be up there? Not down here?" Luke couldn't help but ask. He couldn't quite stifle his concern of what could happen if she joined a fight in an X-Wing.

"I believe it's where I'll be needed. Besides, I'd be useless on the ground in a fight against that station," she said pointed.

Luke nodded. He still didn't like it, and nothing was about to assuage those concerns before the fight, so he simply dropped the subject.

Even as a selfish corner of his mind whispered of his relief that if they failed, and the moon this rebel base was on ended up destroyed…at least his mother would still be alive if she was in a ship and managed to hold her own in the space battle.

"They're ready for the briefing," Luke chose to say instead.

Zelina nodded, clapping Luke on the shoulder. "Lead the way, then. We wouldn't want to be late to that."

Proton torpedoes into the exhaust port, only a few minutes to get a perfect shot in a two meter target most likely amidst a dog fight and surface defenses. It's only been almost twenty years since you were in a real dogfight in a fighter.

Zelina turned the flight helmet over in her hands, adjusting the flight suit for what must have been the thousandth time. The last time she had to wear full gear, it had been the start of the Clone Wars, and the occasional trip outside a ship in space. Full gear for flights was just another thing she needed to adjust to.

Her X-Wing loomed over her, no astromech and a few crew members rushing to make sure the ship was ready. General Dodonna stood nearby, worried eyes flickering between the ship and Zelina.

"Are you absolutely sure you want to go up there, Master Du'ahn?" Dodonna stressed.

He knows how poorly the simulation runs went. Now he wants to protect his new asset by keeping it on the ground.

"It's where I'm needed, General. I'm no ace pilot, but I can hold my own, and you need all the help on this mission that you can get." As she spoke, Zelina finally pulled the helmet on, securing the strap and mounting the ladder.

"And what about your son?" Dodonna asked, as if he'd just made some kind of point.

"He's going up, too, isn't he?"

"You still haven't even told any of us his name."

"General, if we survive this, we're going to have far more to talk about than his name," Zelina finished evenly, her tone signaling the end of the conversation. Dodonna had to get to the command center anyway, neither of them had time to spend on little details that could be handled later.

Speaking of Luke…

As she crested the top of the ladder, Zelina took a moment to pause and look for the young Skywalker amidst the sea of ships, techs, droids, and pilots. His X-Wing was a little ways away from hers, noticeable by the blue and white astromech and the shock of blonde hair belonging to the pilot climbing into the cockpit.

She probably should have been the one with Artoo considering how out of her element she was—Luke had even argued as much—but she wanted Luke to have all the protection he could get, just to be safe.

Then, isolated off to the side, was the Millennium Falcon. Zelina felt a twinge of regret and disappointment at the sight. She hated to see the smuggler go—he'd been a good friend of both hers and Luke over the years…but she hadn't meant to pull him in this far, and she understood his reluctance to join the fight.

Yes, reluctance. Not outright refusal (even though that was the outward impression he was displaying), but reluctance and hesitation.

She partially wanted to go see him before the fight, before he left…but there was no time for that now. The Death Star was in the system, and they only had so much time to get in the air and stop it before another planet was destroyed. There was no time for a final meeting before he left, unfortunately.

Zelina climbed into the cockpit of her borrowed X-Wing, allowing a doubtful skimming glance over the controls in the cockpit now that she was officially cut off from prying eyes. One hand wandered over the controls a half-second behind her gaze, doing a quick inventory to reinforce the controls within her memory. She noticed a slight shake in her hand, choosing to grip the flight controls to hide the motion.

Even when there was no one around to see, she still kept up the ruse…

Up ahead, the red heat of X-Wing engines began to rise above the din of activity, signaling it was time to go. Strangling the thoughts that haunted her in idle moments back into submission, Zelina quickly started firing up the systems, fingers hesitating here and there as she mentally made sure she knew what she was activating. The X-Wings around her were already moving into the air when she finally got the fighter powered up and ready to join them, carefully easing the ship into the air and waiting a few seconds for the ships in front of her to leave the hangar before she followed suit.

Into the stars, straight towards a harbinger of death.