Hearts are Meant To: Chapter 11
Disclaimer: All previous disclaimers apply. I own none of this (with the exception of Genna Cage, who is my creation; but since she's playing in GL's playground, that's a moot point).
Luke rubbed his tired eyes with the back of his wrist, trying to avoid getting engine grease all over his face. To call this a long day would be an understatement. The truth was, he was absolutely emotionally and physically drained to the core. The Rogues had met earlier to discuss the battle, and all of them had shared their emotions over the loss of Rogue Nine. Then, the rest of them gone to bed, to recuperate from the day's draining events. Unfortunately, the emotional elements that were draining Luke as well would be keeping him from getting any form of sleep. So it was all he could do to keep his exhausted brain occupied until things had settled enough for him to get some rest without fear of nightmares or disturbing dreams. Unfortunately, it seemed the entire cruiser was well into the sleep cycle, so there was no hope for company. Only he remained awake, sitting atop the lone X-wing in the hangar, busily repairing the broken stabilizer.
"What are you doing?"
The voice caused Luke to jump slightly. He'd been so engrossed in his task, he hadn't sensed anyone in the hangar. He also hadn't expected anyone to be awake at this hour. Craning his neck to see the owner of the voice, he spotted none other than Genna Cage, standing with her arms crossed over her chest, looking up at him as though demanding an answer. He grimaced. She was the last person he wanted to see on a day like this. Especially right now, when he didn't even have the energy to muster any animosity toward her if he wanted to. In fact, if anything, he felt slightly ashamed for the way he'd handled things with her at the start. He shook his head, wondering why he was feeling so vulnerable all of a sudden. He must be really emotionally drained to be thinking that way.
"Fixing the stabilizer," he answered, turning back to his work.
"Why?" came another demanding question.
Without looking up, he replied, "Why not?"
"Because most sane people would be asleep at this hour."
He chuckled slightly as he tugged on a particularly stubborn metal clamp. "So what's your excuse?"
There was a slight pause before he heard her respond, "Well, I never really claimed to be sane, now did I?"
Luke shook his head. He could hear the irritation in her voice, but he also heard something else. He wasn't quite sure what it was, or why she remained standing down there. Looking back down toward her, he asked, "Well, are you going to keep standing down there and asking me questions, or would you rather come on up and ask me questions where you can see what I'm doing?"
She cocked her head to the side incredulously. "Where should I go?"
"Wing's fine," he said, indicating the starboard upper wing. He watched as she seemed to consider his suggestion for a moment before clambering up to have a seat where he had indicated, her legs dangling over the side. "Don't fall now," he teased.
He was rewarded with a scowl that brought his focus back to his work.
Silence followed for a time, as he pulled apart pieces of the broken stabilizer and she watched intently. He was trying to figure out how much of it was salvageable. So far, it didn't look too bad. There were a few spare pieces in a crate down below. He'd noted them earlier. With what he could salvage, combined with the spare parts, he might have this thing repaired by morning.
"It's amazing," Genna commented after a time. "I know everything there is about flying this thing, but if you asked me to do what you're doing right now, I wouldn't know where to start."
"At least I know I have a job to fall back on if I ever quit piloting," Luke responded with a slight grin.
"Or if you have chronic insomnia," Genna added wryly.
"It beats waiting for the repair techs to get to work on it," Luke argued. "They can take weeks."
"So, how'd you learn?" she asked.
Luke shrugged his shoulders. "I've always been mechanical, I guess. I used to tinker with appliances when I was little. Then my uncle put me to work repairing droids and vaporators. I also made modifications to an old beat-up landspeeder I bought dirt-cheep, and got her running real good. Then there was the skyhopper."
"Stang, Skywalker!" Genna laughed.
Luke looked up with a guarded grin. "What can I say? Tatooine was kind of dull." Looking back down at the stabilizer, he couldn't help but wonder why she was here. Was she trying to make peace? Or, he thought darkly, was she after more information to use against the Rogues? He frowned. He was too tired to play games. Better get everything out in the open now.
He set down his tools and stared at her, trying to find the right words to say. "Genna, look," he started, feeling foolish but too tired to care, "I know we didn't exactly start out on the right foot, and I know that the circumstances at the time were, well-"
"Catastrophic?" Genna supplied.
Luke smiled weakly. "You could say that," he admitted. "Look, I just want to say that I'm sorry. And for the sake of the Rogues and the Renegades, I'm willing to put everything aside to work together." There, he'd gone and apologized. Why? He didn't really know why he'd done it. And as she remained silent, he wondered if it had been such a good idea.
When she didn't say anything for a few moments, he went back to his work. That idea had been a bust. It just showed what you got when you tried to take initiative by apologizing to a woman.
"You know, making your peace with me won't bring him back," she finally said softly.
He froze, an icy chill coursing through his body. His hand trembled and he nearly dropped the clamp he held in his hand. That was not the response he'd been expecting. Where had it come from? And why had she felt the need to tell him that? His stomach soured, and all thoughts of guilt toward her vanished in a wave of disbelief. How could she have said what she just said? Why would she assume that any apology to her would have anything to do with Kal? A wave of guilt over the man's death hit him. Kal had been one of his pilots, under his command. It shouldn't have happened.
Somehow, Luke found the power to move again, and he continued work on the stabilizer, all but shutting out the woman on the wing.
"Were you close?"
This time, her question caused him to jerk his head up in response and level her with an icy gaze. "What are you playing at?" he whispered coldly.
Her face was just as cold. "Just asking a question."
Luke broke the gaze first, lacking the emotional strength at the moment to hold it any longer. Strangely, he felt compelled to answer, although he wondered if it was in answer to her question or in release of his own pent up emotions. "No, we weren't," he said quietly. "He was a bit of a loner, hadn't been with the Rogues very long, and he didn't quite fit in with the group. Not like Dack, who slipped right in. Kal made it hard to get to know him. I honestly can't say if I knew him at all." He sighed, releasing the tightness that wanted to gather in his throat.
"It wasn't your fault, you know," Genna's voice softly pressed.
Luke shook his head, refusing to look up at her to meet her gaze. "Yes, it was. It was my job to get him back alive. I failed."
Genna's reply was more insistent. "Luke, you saved about a third of Renegade Flight today. That's hardly failure. Heck, you even saved me."
"How?"
"When you swept in and nailed those two TIEs."
Had he done that? He didn't remember. In fact, he didn't remember a lot of what happened out there. It was like some sort of dream. "I'm sorry, but the whole day is kind of hazy," he remarked. "Are you sure that was me?"
"Positive," she answered. She was quiet a moment. Then she added, "And as far as Kal is concerned, he made his own mistakes and paid for them. That's part of what being a pilot is all about. You can't be responsible for the actions of every single person up there."
Luke shrugged. "I can try."
Silence followed again, and Luke braced himself for what she would dredge up next. He actually wished she would get tired and leave. A quick glance at her told him that this was not likely, however.
"Does this relax you, or something?" she finally asked.
Luke sighed, his patience wearing thin. "Usually." He added darkly, "Although I may have some ulterior motive for tampering with your stabilizer."
Genna chuckled. "I wouldn't put it past you."
Luke grinned dryly without looking up. "Don't you trust me?"
When she didn't answer at all, he got curious and shifted his gaze back toward her. He'd expected a flat reply, or a witty retort, but he got nothing. Instead, she was sitting with a pensive look on her face, staring at him. When at last she spoke, it was in a soft voice. "I don't know. It's hard for me to trust someone with Vader's power."
This time the tool did drop from his hand. It slid down the side of the ship and landed on the floor with a loud metallic clang. Luke didn't notice it, however. "What?"
She stared at the ground where the tool had landed. "The Force," she answered simply. "Lightsabers and all that. It makes me very uncomfortable, especially after seeing Vader in action."
"Don't you dare compare me to Vader," he heard himself saying, as though he was somehow detached from the situation. Disbelief mixed with hurt, anger, pride and despair swirled in him, rooting him in place as he glared at her, waiting for her reply.
"Why not? You share the same power," she replied.
She'd crossed the line. Enraged, he picked up another tool that was lying nearby. Without taking his eyes off her, he rammed it into the open stabilizer compartment with all of his might. Sparks flew as metal violently ground against metal.
"Let the techs fix that!" he spat. "And have fun being grounded for a few weeks 'til they do!" With his heart thudding in his ears and a haze of anger before his eyes, he slid to the hangar floor. His foot came in contact with the tool he had dropped earlier, and he kicked it furiously, sending it sailing several meters into the hangar wall. Without another look back, he stormed out.
*********
Genna watched him go with a mixture of shock and concern, tempered with a bit of self-reproach. After all, she had pushed his buttons, with every intention of seeing what would happen when she did. What better way was there to test him, to find out just what kind of Force-user he was? She just hadn't realized that his reaction to the mention of Vader would be so strong. It nearly rivaled her own. Just what had the Sith Lord done to him to warrant such a quick emotional response to a simple comparison? Then again, she would have probably reacted similarly, if not worse, had someone dared to compare her to that walking nightmare.
Sliding off the wing, she quietly moved toward the hangar exit, contemplating the sensibility behind going after him. Would he continue to rage at her if she followed? Would it be safe and prudent for her to follow a man she didn't quite trust because of his dark potential? Did she owe it to him after what she'd said?
Keeping a window of escape open, she tiptoed up to the doorway and peered into the hall. There was no sign of Skywalker, and no telling where he might have gone. He probably wouldn't have gone back to the crew quarters in such a state, but where else was there to go? Resolved toward heading in the only direction she could imagine him going, she softly treaded the corridor toward the Rogues' quarters. She quietly rounded a corner, and froze.
A few meters away, seated on the floor with his back to the wall and his eyes closed, was Skywalker. He was breathing deeply, apparently trying to calm down and release the anger she had stirred in him. Afraid to move for fear he'd hear her, yet strangely compelled to move closer, she stood rooted in place, staring at the calm face of the man who had violently rendered her stabilizer a complete mess only a few seconds earlier.
"Come to hurl more accusations?"
His quiet question made her jump. Able to move once more, she gingerly crept toward him. "No," she answered simply.
"Then what?" His soft voice was laced with hurt, and it filled her with regret.
Why had she come? What drew her to follow him out here? Why couldn't she leave well enough alone?
"I guess I just wanted to apologize," she heard herself say, much to her own surprise. It was amazing what one's own words could reveal without any prior realization.
Luke simply sighed, glancing up at her with eyes that no longer projected anger. "What is it about the two of us that makes it so difficult for us to get along?"
Genna shrugged at his blunt question, dropping to sit on the floor beside him. "I wish I knew."
Luke shook his head, a hint of a smile appearing on his tired features. "You know, I actually sort of liked you initially."
Genna found herself returning the slight smile. "Same here."
"What happened?"
Moved by a sudden urge to laugh, she chuckled slightly. "I got drunk, you broke your ankle, I had an irrational moment, you had an allergic one." She paused with a shake of her head and continued, "Circumstances just got in the way, I suppose."
He arched an eyebrow at her. "That, and we seem to bring out the worst in each other."
That was an understatement. "I'll have to agree," she conceded.
She watched as Luke glanced back down at the floor. He seemed so helpless all of a sudden-lost and alone. Hardly the heroic Rogue Leader who had saved the day earlier. "So what do we do about it?" he asked at length.
Genna stared back at him, unable to answer. She remembered fights she used to have with her cousins back when she was a little girl on Alderaan. The way they used to hurt each other's feelings so terribly until in tears, they'd hug and say, "Let's start all over, okay?" She smiled at the recollection, the innocence of it, and the ease. Everything was so much simpler then. If you didn't want to fight anymore, you just didn't fight anymore. Start over. Clean slate. All is forgiven. She laughed slightly.
"What?" Luke was staring at her, a confused look on his face.
Genna grinned wistfully. "I just remembered being a kid, fighting with my cousins."
Luke nodded, a smile on his face. "Do overs?"
"Exactly," she answered. "So much simpler then, wasn't it?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "We should try it."
"Try what?"
"Starting from scratch. See if we can't keep from hurting each other the second time around."
Genna laughed out loud at his statement. "You're crazy! That's so silly!"
"Why?" he asked earnestly. "I mean, why complicate things? If little kids can do it-"
"You're out of your mind," she argued, dismissing the idea entirely.
He wouldn't let her, however. Leaning forward, he took her hand in his, saying, "Hi, I'm Luke Skywalker. And you are?"
She shook her head. "I'm not doing this."
"I'm a Rebel pilot," he continued. "They put me in charge of Rogue Squadron, though I'm not sure why. You can call me Lieutenant Commander Skywalker if you'd like."
She felt the smile fighting to spread on her face in spite of her best efforts to be serious. "You're impossible."
"Or you can just call me Luke, since you're not technically under my command." When she rolled her eyes, he leaned closer, refusing to be dissuaded. "And I should probably tell you that my goal is to become a Jedi Knight." He turned serious. "My father was a Jedi, and he was killed by Darth Vader. So was Obi-wan Kenobi, the only man who could have taught me the ways of the Force, my mentor for only a few days. My aunt and uncle were also killed by Vader's stormtroopers, and my best friend was shot down over the Death Star. By Vader."
Genna blinked at him. So that answered all of her questions. And he'd done it in such a simple and straightforward manner. No wonder she'd hurt him with her words. It was all so clear to her now. So simple. And in that moment, Genna Cage, Alderaan survivor and former Imperial, suddenly knew she could trust Luke Skywalker.
Even more significantly, she wanted to be his friend.
Squeezing the hand that held hers, she smiled back at him. "I'm Genna Cage, and apparently I like to make things difficult for men who find relaxation in fixing things."
She was rewarded with a bright laugh from Luke. "Speaking of which," he said, rising to his feet and pulling her up, "let's see about fixing that stabilizer, shall we?"
Disclaimer: All previous disclaimers apply. I own none of this (with the exception of Genna Cage, who is my creation; but since she's playing in GL's playground, that's a moot point).
Luke rubbed his tired eyes with the back of his wrist, trying to avoid getting engine grease all over his face. To call this a long day would be an understatement. The truth was, he was absolutely emotionally and physically drained to the core. The Rogues had met earlier to discuss the battle, and all of them had shared their emotions over the loss of Rogue Nine. Then, the rest of them gone to bed, to recuperate from the day's draining events. Unfortunately, the emotional elements that were draining Luke as well would be keeping him from getting any form of sleep. So it was all he could do to keep his exhausted brain occupied until things had settled enough for him to get some rest without fear of nightmares or disturbing dreams. Unfortunately, it seemed the entire cruiser was well into the sleep cycle, so there was no hope for company. Only he remained awake, sitting atop the lone X-wing in the hangar, busily repairing the broken stabilizer.
"What are you doing?"
The voice caused Luke to jump slightly. He'd been so engrossed in his task, he hadn't sensed anyone in the hangar. He also hadn't expected anyone to be awake at this hour. Craning his neck to see the owner of the voice, he spotted none other than Genna Cage, standing with her arms crossed over her chest, looking up at him as though demanding an answer. He grimaced. She was the last person he wanted to see on a day like this. Especially right now, when he didn't even have the energy to muster any animosity toward her if he wanted to. In fact, if anything, he felt slightly ashamed for the way he'd handled things with her at the start. He shook his head, wondering why he was feeling so vulnerable all of a sudden. He must be really emotionally drained to be thinking that way.
"Fixing the stabilizer," he answered, turning back to his work.
"Why?" came another demanding question.
Without looking up, he replied, "Why not?"
"Because most sane people would be asleep at this hour."
He chuckled slightly as he tugged on a particularly stubborn metal clamp. "So what's your excuse?"
There was a slight pause before he heard her respond, "Well, I never really claimed to be sane, now did I?"
Luke shook his head. He could hear the irritation in her voice, but he also heard something else. He wasn't quite sure what it was, or why she remained standing down there. Looking back down toward her, he asked, "Well, are you going to keep standing down there and asking me questions, or would you rather come on up and ask me questions where you can see what I'm doing?"
She cocked her head to the side incredulously. "Where should I go?"
"Wing's fine," he said, indicating the starboard upper wing. He watched as she seemed to consider his suggestion for a moment before clambering up to have a seat where he had indicated, her legs dangling over the side. "Don't fall now," he teased.
He was rewarded with a scowl that brought his focus back to his work.
Silence followed for a time, as he pulled apart pieces of the broken stabilizer and she watched intently. He was trying to figure out how much of it was salvageable. So far, it didn't look too bad. There were a few spare pieces in a crate down below. He'd noted them earlier. With what he could salvage, combined with the spare parts, he might have this thing repaired by morning.
"It's amazing," Genna commented after a time. "I know everything there is about flying this thing, but if you asked me to do what you're doing right now, I wouldn't know where to start."
"At least I know I have a job to fall back on if I ever quit piloting," Luke responded with a slight grin.
"Or if you have chronic insomnia," Genna added wryly.
"It beats waiting for the repair techs to get to work on it," Luke argued. "They can take weeks."
"So, how'd you learn?" she asked.
Luke shrugged his shoulders. "I've always been mechanical, I guess. I used to tinker with appliances when I was little. Then my uncle put me to work repairing droids and vaporators. I also made modifications to an old beat-up landspeeder I bought dirt-cheep, and got her running real good. Then there was the skyhopper."
"Stang, Skywalker!" Genna laughed.
Luke looked up with a guarded grin. "What can I say? Tatooine was kind of dull." Looking back down at the stabilizer, he couldn't help but wonder why she was here. Was she trying to make peace? Or, he thought darkly, was she after more information to use against the Rogues? He frowned. He was too tired to play games. Better get everything out in the open now.
He set down his tools and stared at her, trying to find the right words to say. "Genna, look," he started, feeling foolish but too tired to care, "I know we didn't exactly start out on the right foot, and I know that the circumstances at the time were, well-"
"Catastrophic?" Genna supplied.
Luke smiled weakly. "You could say that," he admitted. "Look, I just want to say that I'm sorry. And for the sake of the Rogues and the Renegades, I'm willing to put everything aside to work together." There, he'd gone and apologized. Why? He didn't really know why he'd done it. And as she remained silent, he wondered if it had been such a good idea.
When she didn't say anything for a few moments, he went back to his work. That idea had been a bust. It just showed what you got when you tried to take initiative by apologizing to a woman.
"You know, making your peace with me won't bring him back," she finally said softly.
He froze, an icy chill coursing through his body. His hand trembled and he nearly dropped the clamp he held in his hand. That was not the response he'd been expecting. Where had it come from? And why had she felt the need to tell him that? His stomach soured, and all thoughts of guilt toward her vanished in a wave of disbelief. How could she have said what she just said? Why would she assume that any apology to her would have anything to do with Kal? A wave of guilt over the man's death hit him. Kal had been one of his pilots, under his command. It shouldn't have happened.
Somehow, Luke found the power to move again, and he continued work on the stabilizer, all but shutting out the woman on the wing.
"Were you close?"
This time, her question caused him to jerk his head up in response and level her with an icy gaze. "What are you playing at?" he whispered coldly.
Her face was just as cold. "Just asking a question."
Luke broke the gaze first, lacking the emotional strength at the moment to hold it any longer. Strangely, he felt compelled to answer, although he wondered if it was in answer to her question or in release of his own pent up emotions. "No, we weren't," he said quietly. "He was a bit of a loner, hadn't been with the Rogues very long, and he didn't quite fit in with the group. Not like Dack, who slipped right in. Kal made it hard to get to know him. I honestly can't say if I knew him at all." He sighed, releasing the tightness that wanted to gather in his throat.
"It wasn't your fault, you know," Genna's voice softly pressed.
Luke shook his head, refusing to look up at her to meet her gaze. "Yes, it was. It was my job to get him back alive. I failed."
Genna's reply was more insistent. "Luke, you saved about a third of Renegade Flight today. That's hardly failure. Heck, you even saved me."
"How?"
"When you swept in and nailed those two TIEs."
Had he done that? He didn't remember. In fact, he didn't remember a lot of what happened out there. It was like some sort of dream. "I'm sorry, but the whole day is kind of hazy," he remarked. "Are you sure that was me?"
"Positive," she answered. She was quiet a moment. Then she added, "And as far as Kal is concerned, he made his own mistakes and paid for them. That's part of what being a pilot is all about. You can't be responsible for the actions of every single person up there."
Luke shrugged. "I can try."
Silence followed again, and Luke braced himself for what she would dredge up next. He actually wished she would get tired and leave. A quick glance at her told him that this was not likely, however.
"Does this relax you, or something?" she finally asked.
Luke sighed, his patience wearing thin. "Usually." He added darkly, "Although I may have some ulterior motive for tampering with your stabilizer."
Genna chuckled. "I wouldn't put it past you."
Luke grinned dryly without looking up. "Don't you trust me?"
When she didn't answer at all, he got curious and shifted his gaze back toward her. He'd expected a flat reply, or a witty retort, but he got nothing. Instead, she was sitting with a pensive look on her face, staring at him. When at last she spoke, it was in a soft voice. "I don't know. It's hard for me to trust someone with Vader's power."
This time the tool did drop from his hand. It slid down the side of the ship and landed on the floor with a loud metallic clang. Luke didn't notice it, however. "What?"
She stared at the ground where the tool had landed. "The Force," she answered simply. "Lightsabers and all that. It makes me very uncomfortable, especially after seeing Vader in action."
"Don't you dare compare me to Vader," he heard himself saying, as though he was somehow detached from the situation. Disbelief mixed with hurt, anger, pride and despair swirled in him, rooting him in place as he glared at her, waiting for her reply.
"Why not? You share the same power," she replied.
She'd crossed the line. Enraged, he picked up another tool that was lying nearby. Without taking his eyes off her, he rammed it into the open stabilizer compartment with all of his might. Sparks flew as metal violently ground against metal.
"Let the techs fix that!" he spat. "And have fun being grounded for a few weeks 'til they do!" With his heart thudding in his ears and a haze of anger before his eyes, he slid to the hangar floor. His foot came in contact with the tool he had dropped earlier, and he kicked it furiously, sending it sailing several meters into the hangar wall. Without another look back, he stormed out.
*********
Genna watched him go with a mixture of shock and concern, tempered with a bit of self-reproach. After all, she had pushed his buttons, with every intention of seeing what would happen when she did. What better way was there to test him, to find out just what kind of Force-user he was? She just hadn't realized that his reaction to the mention of Vader would be so strong. It nearly rivaled her own. Just what had the Sith Lord done to him to warrant such a quick emotional response to a simple comparison? Then again, she would have probably reacted similarly, if not worse, had someone dared to compare her to that walking nightmare.
Sliding off the wing, she quietly moved toward the hangar exit, contemplating the sensibility behind going after him. Would he continue to rage at her if she followed? Would it be safe and prudent for her to follow a man she didn't quite trust because of his dark potential? Did she owe it to him after what she'd said?
Keeping a window of escape open, she tiptoed up to the doorway and peered into the hall. There was no sign of Skywalker, and no telling where he might have gone. He probably wouldn't have gone back to the crew quarters in such a state, but where else was there to go? Resolved toward heading in the only direction she could imagine him going, she softly treaded the corridor toward the Rogues' quarters. She quietly rounded a corner, and froze.
A few meters away, seated on the floor with his back to the wall and his eyes closed, was Skywalker. He was breathing deeply, apparently trying to calm down and release the anger she had stirred in him. Afraid to move for fear he'd hear her, yet strangely compelled to move closer, she stood rooted in place, staring at the calm face of the man who had violently rendered her stabilizer a complete mess only a few seconds earlier.
"Come to hurl more accusations?"
His quiet question made her jump. Able to move once more, she gingerly crept toward him. "No," she answered simply.
"Then what?" His soft voice was laced with hurt, and it filled her with regret.
Why had she come? What drew her to follow him out here? Why couldn't she leave well enough alone?
"I guess I just wanted to apologize," she heard herself say, much to her own surprise. It was amazing what one's own words could reveal without any prior realization.
Luke simply sighed, glancing up at her with eyes that no longer projected anger. "What is it about the two of us that makes it so difficult for us to get along?"
Genna shrugged at his blunt question, dropping to sit on the floor beside him. "I wish I knew."
Luke shook his head, a hint of a smile appearing on his tired features. "You know, I actually sort of liked you initially."
Genna found herself returning the slight smile. "Same here."
"What happened?"
Moved by a sudden urge to laugh, she chuckled slightly. "I got drunk, you broke your ankle, I had an irrational moment, you had an allergic one." She paused with a shake of her head and continued, "Circumstances just got in the way, I suppose."
He arched an eyebrow at her. "That, and we seem to bring out the worst in each other."
That was an understatement. "I'll have to agree," she conceded.
She watched as Luke glanced back down at the floor. He seemed so helpless all of a sudden-lost and alone. Hardly the heroic Rogue Leader who had saved the day earlier. "So what do we do about it?" he asked at length.
Genna stared back at him, unable to answer. She remembered fights she used to have with her cousins back when she was a little girl on Alderaan. The way they used to hurt each other's feelings so terribly until in tears, they'd hug and say, "Let's start all over, okay?" She smiled at the recollection, the innocence of it, and the ease. Everything was so much simpler then. If you didn't want to fight anymore, you just didn't fight anymore. Start over. Clean slate. All is forgiven. She laughed slightly.
"What?" Luke was staring at her, a confused look on his face.
Genna grinned wistfully. "I just remembered being a kid, fighting with my cousins."
Luke nodded, a smile on his face. "Do overs?"
"Exactly," she answered. "So much simpler then, wasn't it?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "We should try it."
"Try what?"
"Starting from scratch. See if we can't keep from hurting each other the second time around."
Genna laughed out loud at his statement. "You're crazy! That's so silly!"
"Why?" he asked earnestly. "I mean, why complicate things? If little kids can do it-"
"You're out of your mind," she argued, dismissing the idea entirely.
He wouldn't let her, however. Leaning forward, he took her hand in his, saying, "Hi, I'm Luke Skywalker. And you are?"
She shook her head. "I'm not doing this."
"I'm a Rebel pilot," he continued. "They put me in charge of Rogue Squadron, though I'm not sure why. You can call me Lieutenant Commander Skywalker if you'd like."
She felt the smile fighting to spread on her face in spite of her best efforts to be serious. "You're impossible."
"Or you can just call me Luke, since you're not technically under my command." When she rolled her eyes, he leaned closer, refusing to be dissuaded. "And I should probably tell you that my goal is to become a Jedi Knight." He turned serious. "My father was a Jedi, and he was killed by Darth Vader. So was Obi-wan Kenobi, the only man who could have taught me the ways of the Force, my mentor for only a few days. My aunt and uncle were also killed by Vader's stormtroopers, and my best friend was shot down over the Death Star. By Vader."
Genna blinked at him. So that answered all of her questions. And he'd done it in such a simple and straightforward manner. No wonder she'd hurt him with her words. It was all so clear to her now. So simple. And in that moment, Genna Cage, Alderaan survivor and former Imperial, suddenly knew she could trust Luke Skywalker.
Even more significantly, she wanted to be his friend.
Squeezing the hand that held hers, she smiled back at him. "I'm Genna Cage, and apparently I like to make things difficult for men who find relaxation in fixing things."
She was rewarded with a bright laugh from Luke. "Speaking of which," he said, rising to his feet and pulling her up, "let's see about fixing that stabilizer, shall we?"