Jek Dorma woke up to find himself lying on an orange jumpsuit, his head throbbing and his entire body aching like he was stomped on by a bantha herd. The first thing he saw after regaining consciousness was a campfire, and he could vaguely make out the shape of trees in the background through his half-closed eyes. As his vision cleared, he realized he was in a clearing somewhere in a forest.
A pained groan escaped him when a jolt of pain shot through his left leg as he took a sitting position. A glance towards it revealed an instant bacta cast wrapped around it.
"That should heal in a couple of weeks. A couple of days with the right treatment if it's only a crack"
His eyes shot forward and his right hand moved to the empty holster where his blaster should've been. The figure sitting on a neatly cut tree log was a young man with dark blonde hair and icy blue eyes. He was dressed in a simple black shirt, brown pants and military boots. Most probably the owner of the orange jumpsuit.
A Rebel jumpsuit.
"Who are you? Where am I?" he said, feeling somewhat groggy and more than a little anxious.
"Afraid I can't really tell you my name right now." the young man said with amusement "As to where we are...we're somewhere on Hradreek. Far from any settlements, unfortunately."
"Hradreek? " he said as he placed his fingers on his temples. His head was beginning to clear and the memories started flowing back. His squadron was escorting the Imperial cruiser-carrier Black Talon over Hradreek when his TIE interceptor was disabled near the atmosphere. He'd barely managed to break the crash when the engines mysteriously started again.
The rebel nodded "We were both shot down with some sort of ion pulse too close to the atmosphere. My fighter was disabled for a minute, and I barely managed to land it in one piece after the thrusters kicked back in. I think that's what happened with you as well since your interceptor crashed half a klick north from here. I had to carry you back to camp. Good thing my X-Wing had a first aid kit. "
"I suppose it pays that you have the larger starfighters." Jek said wryly with a frown, taking in the clearing where the Rebel had set camp as he lifted himself to sit on the log behind him. He noticed the damaged X-Wing with the blue and white Astromech working on it in the background.
"Why would a rebel do that though?" he continued, giving him a skeptical look.
The young man simply gave a small shrug "Because you needed it" he said as his lips curved into a hint of smile.
"That didn't stop you from taking down half of my squadron single-handedly" Jek said, feeling a strange mixture of respect, righteous anger and gratefulness.
The rebel pilot's face fell briefly "That was combat. I try not to take life when I don't have to.
"A noble sentiment." Jek said "Perhaps one more soldiers should follow. Of course, It probably wouldn't be needed so much had the rebellion not declared war."
If the rebel was offended by his comment, he didn't show it. Instead, he settled for a perfectly neutral expression "People tend to do that when you massacre the Lasats and enslave the Wookiees. Among other things."
Jek gave a small nod "Point Taken. The Empire is far from perfect... "
"Ah. Now that's an understatement" the young man interrupted with the ghost of a smirk on his face.
"... Still, was this the only way to change things?" Jek continued.
The pilot gazed at the bonfire for a few moments before looking him in the eye "It's the only one as far as I can tell. The few honest senators in the now-disbanded imperial senate weren't really making a difference. Alderaan certainly didn't help."
Jek's own face fell "there's no denying that Alderaan was a tragedy, one that rests on Tarkin's shoulders, but was the death star not mass murder as well? Hundreds of thousands perished!"
Was it just him, or did the rebel slightly flinch?
The pilot stared at him for a moment "You lost someone there." Now why did that seem more of a statement than a question?
" I did. Four friends from the academy. "
The rebel gave him a look of earnest sadness "I am sorry. I know the feeling."
Jek simply nodded "We've all lost someone to this war I suppose. Guilt, loss,... All soldiers have to deal with them one way or another. Even those in your noble crusade I presume."
The pilot simply gave him an amused smile "Noble crusade? What exactly do imperials think we are? "
"Many view you as terrorists, mostly those who lost someone to the war. Others are...more sympathetic to your cause but either disapprove of your methods or refuse to defect because they don't think you have a chance against the Imperial fleet. Of course, we've had quite the increase in defectors since Endor, I hear"
The rebel gave him a look that made him feel as if he could see his very soul "And what do you think?"
Jek looked him in the eye and paused for a moment "I'm in the camp that views you as foolish idealists, and overzealous ones at that. I may not like Palpatine or many of the things my superiors did, but I do believe in the good side of the Empire."
The rebels raised an eyebrow and gave him a skeptical look "So you believe in a dictatorship?"
Jek folded his own arms across his chest and his expression became grave "My father…was a farmer on a poor outer rim world whose problems were ignored by a corrupt republic that never cared about us. Until the Empire came along, and now things are somewhat better. So, yes. I believe in the Empire."
"And I'm guessing there was something in it for the Empire on your world? " the rebel asked.
Jek smiled "A small doonium mine. It got my people jobs, our world a chance and me a free pass to skystrike academy. Now, I'm not saying your grievances aren't warranted, just that there was some good that came with the Empire."
The Rebel shook his head slightly "Afraid it wasn't worth it. "
Jek sighed "You're probably right. But I do believe the chances of a good Empire are more than the chances of a good Republic. For the first to work, few men have to be wise. For the second to work, most people have to be wise. Which is more likely? I had hopes that once Palpatine was gone, a better leader will replace him, one who could actually keep a leash on the Tarkins of the Empire. Then again, I'm not a man of politics, so I could be wrong."
The Rebel gave an amused smile "I don't think either one of us will convince the other any time soon."
Jek fought against his grogginess "You're likely correct. I just hope I could convince you that not every Imperial officer is Darth Vader." He said jokingly, but the rebel didn't laugh. Instead he gave a small flinch and frowned into the fire.
Perhaps he lost someone to Vader like many others he thought. "You never told me what the rebels think of imperial officers, by the way." he said, hoping to lighten the mood.
The rebel's smile returned "Well, the stereotype is that they are pretentious and spoiled snobs from the core."
"Ah. I'm from wild space, so I can see where that came from." he said with a grin.
"Some think any man who serves the empire after Alderaan deserves what he gets one way or another. At a time, I thought so myself, but I know better now." The rebel said with a solemn expression on his face.
Jek's face fell " Listen I... "
Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by the sound of powerful sublight engines. A YT-1300 corellian freighter flew into a view from behind him - The direction of the rising sun - and hovered 50 meters behind the pilot at a 15 meters altitude.
The young man got up and moved towards him. "And that would be my ride, I suppose." he said "Afraid I have to go now. It's been a pleasure meeting you lieutenant." he continued as he extended his arm for a handshake.
Jek shook his hand in confusion " you're... not gonna take me prisoner? "
The rebel smiled "I'll admit the thought has crossed my mind, but I can't bring myself to do it. And I believe this is yours" he said as he handed him his confiscated commlink "It's still functional. The emergency codes should connect you to the nearest imperial base in the southern hemisphere."
He eyed the device for a moment, still trying to grasp what was happening. His enemy was letting him go. "Thank you" he said as the pilot turned around and started moving towards his crashed starfighter. "You might want to erase the data on the navicomputer." kriff, why did he say that?
The pilot threw him an amused glance " No need, but I appreciate that concern" he turned around again, closed his eyes and raised his hand.
And the starfighter slowly levitated towards the old freighter and attached itself to its magnetic clamps. He was suddenly aware that he was staring, mouth opened, at the scene. " how..."
The words died once more when the freighter lowered it's ramp - Was that a Wookiee in the cargo hold? - and the rebel performed a miraculous jump to land inside the vessel.
He walked inside and the ramp closed as the ship took off, leaving a very stunned imperial lieutenant behind.
Both men were oblivious to the figure watching them discreetly from the treetops.
Luke, Han and Chewbacca walked down the ramp into the rear hanger of the Resilience, one of the rebellion's most heavily modified cruisers from Mon Cala. The place was buzzing with motion as usual, with astromechs, technicians and pilots going about their business.
Leia quickly ran up to Luke and pulled him in for an embrace. "Don't scare me like that again." She said with a relieved smile as she broke away.
"Hey, it's not like it's the first time I've crashed " he said with a bright smile "It takes more than that to take me down. Remember Vrogas Vas?"
Leia's face fell slightly and Luke suddenly got the feeling that there was something about that battle he didn't know "Don't remind me" she said as she forced a weary smile.
"Hey" Han's voice came over from behind him " Chewie and I are alright too you know "
"So I've noticed, General." she said with a mischievous grin as she pulled him in for a kiss.
"Get a room you two." Wedge came over with a teasing smirk on his face "Good to see you boss" he said as he pulled Luke in for a hug "What? You're vulnerable now that you're not in charge? Still, should've known you'd never go down that easily."
"Well, you'd never let me live it down now, would you?" Luke replied with a grin
"Whatever the hell was that anyway?" Wedge asked "I didn't see anything near you aside from that interceptor that chased you into orbit. I turned around for a minute to save Hobbie's hide and suddenly you're both gone."
"I don't know." Luke said with a small frown "But it wasn't like anything I've ever dealt with before. We were both hit with some sort of Ion pulse and my force senses never even went off."
"Maybe he got hit by friendly fire?" Leia cut in with a frown "Some sort of modified TIE with an Ion pulse?"
"I didn't see anything near them "Wedge countered.
"There was nothing on my HUD either." Luke said gravely.
"Maybe it came from the Cruiser-carrier?" Leia suggested "Some sort of new ion weapon? "
"Probably " Luke conceded "but it doesn't explain why the force never warned me "
"Well, Whatever it was" Han said "We'd better let high command know about it soon. "
"At? least we got the coaxium." Wedge said "That carrier didn't take much time to crack and Major Nakama's commando squad got the containers in a flash."
"Any casualties?" Luke asked with a concerned expression as usual.
Wedge shook his head "None. Those B-nebulon frigates did a good job covering us. Come on, I'll buy you guys a drink at the mess to celebrate."
"I'll have…" Han started before noticing Leia giving him the look " On second thought, I'll pass. Got some work to do on the Falcon."
Wedge gave him a knowing smile "Too bad, pal. What about you Luke? You coming?"
"Sure, I'll have the biggest glass of milk they've got."
Somewhere behind him Chewie barked a laugh.
Author's notes:
I began writing this story because I realized I wanted to see the further adventures of those characters that I came to love and, at the time, canon wasn't scratching that itch for me. Legends was somewhat better for me in that regard, but there were still stories I wanted to see but didn't have. So I decided to write them myself.
Please share your thoughts, be they positive or negative. This is my first actual writing project and I'm learning a lot as I make it. Your thoughts are more vaulable than you think.