"She's here Governor," Arihnda's personal assistant leaned over her shoulder to inform her that her sister's daughter Rya Dax had made it to Coruscant. She was not thrilled about taking charge of a young girl who's father she despised and held personally responsible for leading her sister astray from family duty. But with some encouragement from her parents, she realized the girl after all was a Pryce, and blood was thicker than water.

Arihnda Pryce logged off her computer that she had been working on since the early hours of the morning. She had come to Coruscant from Lothal for training. She had just been appointed the Governorship of Lothal and was determined to learn as much as she could from the Imperial Capital. For the time being while she caught up on personal affairs, she could remotely run the planet through her close and trusted team of ministers. She rose and exited her office and found a small eight year old girl with golden hair that was the spitting image of her sister. All except for her eyes. She had her father's eyes, blue and deep as the ocean, able to conceal and deceive if given the chance.

"Well let's have a look at you," Arihnda said motioned for Rya to stand for an inspection. Rya stood on command revealing she was very thin. But as skinny as she was she always tried to keep a neat appearance as taught to her by her mother.

"Right. You'll be living on Lothal at the governor's residence. I will not be there most of the time due to the high demands of the governorship and other imperial obligations I have. I expect you not only to behave as well as strive to better yourself. There will be a great number of privileges and advantages living under my charge, but don't for a moment think I will allow you to become a spoiled imperial legacy. There are far too many of those in the galaxy that will eventually threaten what the Emperor has worked so hard to build. Always remember you are a Pryce. You will attend the finest schools, receive high marks, and enrich yourself in the languages and arts of the Imperial Finest so one day you may serve your Empire. Do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am," Rya answered, overwhelmed by her aunt's decree. She had only seen her a handful of times and was starting to understand why her mother and father had not visited her more often.

"Don't call me ma'am," Arihnda shook her head. She could tell she had frightened the girl ever so slightly, which was not her intention, but it might be to her advantage. "I am your aunt, but that is not something you should openly express or use to get out of trouble. If I hear you referring to my position as a bargaining tool for your own advantage there will be consequences."

"What should I call you?" Rya asked, tilting her head confused.

" I am the governor of Lothal now. Governor should be fine," she said. Rya frowned. Calling her aunt governor was more foreign than ma'am was. "You look so much like your mother. I'm sorry she's gone. Your father was not the best influence on her. But you never know what is coming for you. Such a horrific accident."

Rya said nothing. She could sense her aunt was growing tired of their interaction.

"I don't mean to sound cold or diminish her memory. But it is better to learn now that the galaxy is a dangerous and harsh place. It doesn't care who's daughter or niece you are. You must make your own way in it. Hopefully with all these advantages that are allotted to you, you'll bring pride and wealth to the Pryce name."

"My name is Dax, not Pryce," Rya corrected her aunt sternly. It was her only way to defy the woman who had placed all her hopes and ambitions in her imperial position.

"Yes, so it is," Arihnda frowned. "I'll arrange a private transport to take you home. I expect you to write me once a week to keep me up to date with your progress on your studies. If there's anything you need just speak to Minister Loncak. He'll see that it's addressed. He has a son about your age so you'll have a friend at school."

"Yes Governor," Rya nodded and sat back down watching the imperial office buzz around her as she waited for the shuttle to carry her to her mother's homeworld of Lothal.

"Rya," Lee said softly as he approached his wife who was sitting alone on a bench in one of the temple gardens. She was deep in thought of the day she'd arrived at her aunt's office. It was strange how she felt. They had never been close and had little interaction with one another as she was always preoccupied with the Governorship of Lothal. But knowing she was dead was hard to believe. She wondered how her aunt would feel if she knew what all the education and advantages Rya had received amounted to. Lee took a seat next to her and took her hand in his and squeezed it. "I know."

"Do you?" Rya finally spoke. She knew he meant well, but Lee having a sister in the Imperial Army was nothing compared to being the charge of an Imperial Governor.

"Families are complicated," Lee began. "On one hand you know everything she stood for was everything you were fighting against. And on the other hand, she took you in."

"Are you saying I should be grateful that she didn't desert me like your mother?" she said angrily. "How can you compare our pain? You have no idea what it was like growing up with her."

"No I don't. But I do know what it's like to face an enemy that has a family member in their clutches. It's the strangest feeling, having the courage to take a stand and fearing one day you will have to face the one you love who is on the other side."

"It is," she agreed.

"Pryce was your aunt, mourning her loss doesn't mean your devotion to the rebellion is any less." Lee gently reminded her. "Just means your human."

Rya felt her grief boil to the surface. She hardly knew her aunt, but her mother's sister did provide a home for her, gave her an education, and kept her from ending up in an orphanage. She was grateful even if Pryce only did it out of family obligation. She looked into Lee's eyes and then laid her head in his lap exhausted and began to cry. She was tired. Tired of fighting. Tired of losing. Even with the good news of Lothal's liberation, she feared all they had worked for had done too little. Lee propped her up and wiped her tears away.

"There you go Lieutenant, let it go," he smiled and kissed her.

"Don't call me that," Rya corrected him. She wasn't going to be anything like her aunt. She wanted to be called by her name by those she loved.

"Let's go home Rya," Their feud was over. She took a deep breath and regained her composure. Lee stood and held out his hand.

"Senator!" A man yelled running down the hallway of the temple. Lee and Rya looked at one another and followed the man out of the garden. The man headed straight to the hangars and approached Mon Mothma.

"Lee! Ry!" Denz approached the two.

"What's going on?" Rya asked bewildered keeping and eye on Mon from afar.

"Andor and Erso took a small group of rebels to scarif. They're going to retrieve the plans," Riq said.

"Raddus just followed with his fleet for air support," Denz added.

"All flight personnel, please report to your commanders immediately. All flight personnel, please report to your commanders 've been redirected to scarif. Pilots you'll be briefed by your squadron leaders on route. May the force be with you." sounded throughout the hangar.

"Looks like we're not out of this yet," Lee said to Rya.

"Follow me," Rya said and walked toward the gold squadron leader Jon Vander trying to avoid the chaotic pilots rushing to their ships

"Captain Vander," Rya called assertively.

"Lieutenant Dax," He acknowledged. "I'm in a rush."

"I can see that. How can we help?" Rya asked with her crew proudly standing behind her.

"Sorry Lieutenant, this is a star fight not an intel heist. Unless any of you can handle a Y-Wing," Vander said.

"I can," Lee volunteered. He had moved plenty of ships during the rebellion and his experience out maneuvering Imperial Tie Fighters would definitely come in handy. "I'm Captain Tersu. I'm the pilot for the Stargazer crew."

"Heard the Stargazer was shot down on Tatooine," Vander replied confused.

"And the whole crew survived cus of his piloting," Denz added, patting Lee on the back. Vander clearly was pressed for time and wasn't going to argue with any help he could get.

"You got a droid?" Vander asked.

"No Sir," Lee admitted. "But I could fly one if you asked me to."

"Love your spirit Tersu," Vander chuckled and pulled out a gold squadron helmet from a rack. "You'll be gold ten. Suit Up."

"Come on Riq. Let's get farmer Lee ready," Denz said and hustled to the Y-Wing Lee would be flying.

"Any words of encouragement Lieutenant?" Lee asked.

"Yeah, don't die," Rya said bluntly and kissed him before heading toward the control room to monitor the battle. She couldn't bear to watch him leave. But she could sense he would return, there was an energy in the room. The rebellion was alive and ready to strike.

"Gold team report in." Captain Vander called out to his squadron of ten.

Lee adjusted his controls as he waited for his turn to call in. He had been in plenty of run ins with the Empire but usually he was headed in the opposite direction, never directly into them. He was calmer than he thought he would be. There was something about Cassian's expression when he said "You should forgive your sister'" that lingered with Lee. He must have found her. Lenore must have defected and was out trying to make her way. He could feel it. Knowing she was no longer part of the Empire gave Lee hope, the hope he needed to fight this fight and return to Rya alive.

"Gold ten standing by," he reported and tightened his formation with the other Y-Wings.

"Blue's going in," Vander alerted as they watched Blue Squadron fly toward the atmosphere of Scarif. As the X-Wings descended, Lee caught the sight of the shield gates flickering.

"The shields are activating!" Lee yelled as the shield became fully activated and two X-Wings flew directly into the shield and perished.

"Eyes forward Gold Ten," gold three called knowing the sight of the crash could diminish morale among the pilots.

"Copy," Lee said and averted his eyes awaiting orders. He had seen many crashes over the years but none in battle. Fear began to crack his heart and he wished he was back on Yavin with Rya and Denz.

"Red leader this is gold leader. We're starting our attack run on the shield gate. Keep it tight and watch out for those towers." Vander said.

"Alright loth-rat. Time to see what you can do," gold five encouraged. Lee smiled and thought of Stobo. This one was going to be for him. He followed tightly behind Gold Squadron as they descended on the shield gate. It was tricky as two Y-Wings fell due to the towers.

"Gold Leader, we lost gold two and six," gold three announced as a squad of Tie Fighters was deployed from the gate base.

"Incoming, enemy fighters," Lee alerted the remainder of the squadron and ducked and rolled out of formation.

"This is mayhem,"gold seven said as they were swarmed by Tie Fighters.

"Break formation and scatter," Lee cried out as he returned behind gold seven shooting down the two Tie Fighters who were on his tail.

"Thanks Tersu," gold seven said, relieved.

"Don't thank me just yet. We need to disable those Star Destroyers if we're gonna have a fighting chance!" Lee replied veering toward the left to join gold three.

"How, there's too many of them?!" Gold five cried as he barely maneuvered away to safety.

"If you pick one up, watch it!" Gold four yelled frustrated before being locked in for a target and shot down. Gold Squadron formatted and followed Vander.

"Hit that opening!" Vander commanded as a hole in the Imperial defense showed.

"We see it, gold leader. Ion torpedoes away," gold three said, firing and disabling one of the Star Destroyers.

"Woo hoo! Nice shot gold three," Lee celebrated. As he followed in line. He glanced above and saw a Hammerhead transport moving at full speed toward one of the Star Destroyers. "Gold leader. The hammerhead! They're gonna ram it!"

"Clever Raddus," Vander muttered over the airways. The hammerhead knocked the destroyer with enough force to collide it with the second. They crashed into the shield gate opening the gate.

"Woo!" Gold Squadron cheered in unison. Now Rogue One had a fighting chance to not only transmit the plans of the Empire's secret weapon but to come home as well.

"Keep sharp. My radar's detecting something large from hyperspace." Vandar announced as he saw his computer flashing.

"Gold Leader, is it that?" Lee asked in terror at the large dome sphere.

It was the weapon they had been trying to prevent - the Death Star. It was massive unlike anything Lee had ever seen. As it moved into position, a bright green light formed and fired a shot at the Scarif base location. Anything and anyone in the area were doomed.

"All ships prepare to jump to hyperspace." Admiral Raddus called out to all squadrons.

"Sir, what about Rogue One? Shouldn't we help?" Lee knew his suggestion was useless, but it felt wrong to retreat.

"Negative. Prepare to jump." Vander said and jumped to light speed when another Star Destroyer appeared out of hyperspace.

Lee quickly maneuvered downward to avoid being hit. There was something different about this Destroy. He felt cold and heavy as thought there was a source of evil on board. The destroyer began to shoot down the ships from the rebellion fleet that had not made the jump to lightspeed. Lee knew there was nothing more he could do. He could stay and go down with the others or leave and continue to fight. He saw an imperial shuttle deploy from the destroyer and head to the Rebel flag ship. They needed to make a run for it.

"Flag ship this is gold ten," Lee called out."Boarding party headed your way. Evacuate now. May the force be with you."

Lee turned his Y-Wing and jumped to lightspeed headed back to Yavin base.