Hello, me again. :) Sorry for the delay - again, been awfully busy. Exciting news for anyone interested: I got into Cambridge Uni to study Classics! Yay! :D
This week's shout-outs go to the following: Shannyrox101, Miriel Tolkien, ArtistsChild93, Booksnake3, Sky65, Mistyx7, randomreader WITH a profile, Time-Dog, sarahmichellegellarfan1, Emonster94, guccileopard, kittykat4thewin, ScarletSecrets1234, Mikasa, Guest and Sarahfelixcladmordred. Thanks so much for taking the time to review, guys, I really, massively appreciate it. And a special thank you to new reviewers - delighted to have you on board. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Only Alice is mine.
After a five minute walk that she was sure the soldier had delayed simply so he could spend more time with General Skywalker, they strolled into the shiny white conference room to find Chewie, Lando, Han and Leia all sitting together in an orange sea of rebel pilots all listening intently.
"Woah…" Alice said, as everyone turned to stare at them, "Tense moment."
"Luke, Alice!" Han called, cheerfully. Luke went over to give Leia a hug and Alice wandered over to Han. He grinned as he wrapped her up in his arms, "Good to see you back so soon, kid."
"And lovely to see you up and about and not blind," she said, ruffling his hair playfully.
"I agree," he said wryly, "which is why you'll be happy to know we'll shortly be going on a dangerous road trip to the forest moon Endor to destroy the shield generator that's protecting the new Death Star."
"Are we?" Alice said, "Excellent, sounds like fun. When are we leaving?"
"Soon," Leia said, holding out her arms towards her, "It's good to see you."
"And you," replied Alice sincerely, as she and Leia hugged.
As they separated, Leia rested a hand on Alice shoulder and smiled at her, "Come with me. I've got a present for you."
"Oo-er," Alice said, raising her eyebrows at the others, "swag."
"Hey!" Han called as Leia dragged Alice away, "Where's my present? And what about Luke, he just got back as well!"
"You two don't get one," Alice called back, "you're not special enough!"
Leia grinned, and led her through the ship to a lushly decorated room, similar in its extravagance to the room they'd so briefly stayed in on Cloud City. "I found it when we arrived yesterday – I asked General Rieekan, and he said that it's definitely the correct design…where did I put it…"
"Leia, you've got me in suspense here, don't tease me-"
"Here it is!" The princess turned around and held out a small piece of shining metal towards Alice. She took it curiously and lifted it closer to her face to study it. It was a badge, shaped vaguely like an arrow-head, with three silver stars engraved on it.
"What is this?" Alice said, confused, "I mean, it's lovely, but…"
"It's an old Alderaanian lieutenant's badge from the time of the Republic," Leia said, smiling, "Threepio found it in the bottom of my wardrobe somewhere. It must have belonged to my mother at some point."
"Oh," said Alice, immediately flustered, "Leia, I couldn't possibly-"
Leia shook her head, "No, take it. You've earned it, after all."
Hesitantly, Alice pinned the badge to the right lapel of her jacket, watching the way it caught the light. "Thanks, Leia. This…really means a lot to me."
"You're welcome," her friend replied, looking her over with a critical eye, "now…would you like me to braid your hair?"
Alice ran a hand through her messy, not been properly cleaned in two weeks hair, and then looked at Leia's shining braid. "Yes please."
As Leia sat her down, and fiddled around for a brush to sort out the worst knots in Alice's mane, Alice said, tentatively, "Leia, what's the occasion?" Her friend glanced at her, and she said hastily, "I mean, I appreciate all the special treatment, but…"
There was an awkward pause, then Leia said, "This mission, it'll be very dangerous, for everyone involved, and well…I just wanted you to know that I consider you to be one of the best friends I've ever had."
Alice stared into the distance, a little stunned, and very touched by Leia's words, "Thank you. You're pretty badass yourself, as friendships go."
Leia smiled, and started to brush Alice's hair, "Thank you. I think."
BREAK
"There. Finished," Leia said, sometime later, in a tone of immense satisfaction. Alice, who'd been close to dozing off again even after the nap she'd had on the way back from Dagobah, jerked awake, "Huh? What?"
She glanced over her shoulder and just caught sight of Leia rolling her eyes before her friend turned around and handed her a mirror, "Here. Look."
Blinking away the last remnants of the very strange dream she'd been having (something to do with Chewie suddenly breaking out into 'The Wombles of Wimbledon Common' song) Alice took the mirror, yawning idly as she did so.
She looked into it, and if her mouth hadn't already been open, it probably would have dropped open in shock. "Leia!"
Her hair had been neatly braided and twisted into a simple, elegant bun, keeping it all neatly contained whilst at the same time looking very pretty. But that wasn't all. She really must have fallen asleep, because without her noticing, Leia had taken it upon herself to put make-up on Alice, eliminating all traces of the sleepless nights she'd on Tatooine, and making her look far too pretty to be about to leave on a stealth mission.
"Leia, you didn't have to do this!"
"But Alice, who knows when we'll get the chance to look pretty again?" Leia grinned at her, "We may all be captured and on our way to the Emperor by this time tomorrow." With that cheery statement, Leia patted Alice on the back, and went to start getting ready to leave.
Alice stared at herself in the mirror for a moment longer, wishing Leia had been her friend when she was getting ready for her Sixth Form Leavers Ball, then got to her feet, and went in search of her blaster.
About twenty minutes later, Alice and Leia, fully jacketed, booted and armed, joined Luke, Han and Chewie where they were waiting for them in the loading dock of the giant starship.
Han, as usual, looked grumpy, and as the two women arrived, he huffed loudly, "Well, finally! Could you have taken any longer getting ready?"
Luke, who was wearing a thick brown cloak over his clothes, leaned towards the two of them and muttered, "Ignore him. Lando just left with the Falcon. I think Han's feeling the loss, that's all."
"Ah," Alice said, twisting her mouth in sympathy for Han, "gotcha."
"You look beautiful," he said suddenly, his unfairly pretty blue eyes tracing her features lightly.
Alice's breath caught in her throat, and suddenly the revelation she'd had earlier, the one that said that she was definitely in love with him rushed to the forefront of her brain, rendering her once again incapable of rational thought and speech: "Err…"
Luckily, Luke, who'd been putting up with her weirdness for some time now, seemed to accept this as par for the course, and just smiled fondly at her. Blushing, she made an intense effort to collect her thoughts, swallowed loudly, smiled, and said, "Thank you. So do you."
His smile widened to a bright grin and her heart squeezed painfully. Oh, yes, I for sure love him.
Meanwhile, Leia seemed to be able to guess at the cause of Han's misery without being told, and gave him a soothing kiss on the cheek, "Come on, General Solo. Let's go. We wouldn't want to keep the rest of the landing team waiting."
Alice heard Han grumbling as Leia led him up the boarding ramp of the Imperial shuttle they were taking, and had to stifle a laugh as she, Luke and Chewie followed.
The cockpit of the shuttle was slightly more cramped than the Falcon's, however this caused problems for no one but Chewie, who had to hunch right the way over just to get through the door. Even then, his furry shoulders brushed the ceiling, and he let out a disgruntled growl.
"Yeah, well, I don't think the Empire had wookiees in mind when they designed it, Chewie," Han said, flicking the starter switches, "Come on and sit down, let's see what this hunk of junk can do."
"Here we go again," Alice heard Threepio say from somewhere behind her as they manoeuvred away from the fleet and made the jump to light speed.
It was a relatively short trip, and it wasn't long before they zipped out hyperspace, the cabin falling instantly silent as everyone took in the hauntingly familiar shape of the second Death Star floating in front of them. Everyone had their own reaction: Luke and Han's mouths turned down at the corners, Chewie growled, Leia looked away, and Alice felt a surge of uneasiness hit her hard in her stomach.
The only consolation was that the shape was incomplete: in places the smooth curves of the station's surface gave way to jagged lines of metal, like a bone jutting through flesh.
"If they don't go for this gambit of ours, we're going to have to get out of here pretty quickly, Chewie," Han said grimly.
Alice opened her mouth, about to say something about the 'fastest ship in the galaxy' – then she remembered that they weren't flying in the Falcon. She shut her mouth with a snap.
There was a crackling noise, and then an unfamiliar voice came over the intercom, "Imperial shuttle, we have you on our screen, please identify."
Han glanced around at Team Rebellion, then said, "This is Shuttle Tiberium, requesting deactivation of the deflector shield."
"Shuttle Tiberium, transmit the shuttle code for shield passage."
"Transmission commencing," Han said, pressing a button.
"Now we find out if that code is worth the price we paid for it," Leia said, raising her eyebrows.
"It'll work," Han said, with a little too much confidence, "it'll work."
"Saying 'it'll work' once is reassuring," Alice muttered, "saying it twice, not so much."
Beside her Luke leaned forward, his eyes narrowing, "Vader's on that ship."
Alice frowned and opened her mouth to speak only to be cut off by Han, "Now, don't get jittery, Luke. There are a lot of command ships."
Luke frowned, obviously still unsettled. Wanting to reassure him, Alice sidled a step closer and tentatively let her hand brush against his. Her heart jumped when he took her hand without hesitation, twining his fingers tightly through hers.
Han shuffled uncertainly in his seat, then leaned towards Chewie, his voice slightly lowered, "Keep your distance though, Chewie. But don't look like you're trying to keep your distance." Chewie growled, puzzled, and Han said, testily, "I don't know, just fly casual."
Everyone jumped when they were hailed again. The man's voice was still smooth and professional, but almost too much so. Without thinking, Alice squeezed Luke's hand, her anxiety increasing, "Shuttle Tiberium, what is your cargo and destination?"
Han looked slightly panicked but managed to keep his voice calm over the intercom, "Parts and technical crew for the forest moon."
Alice suddenly felt cold, as if a breeze had suddenly sprung up in the cabin. She shivered and pulled the jacket Leia had given her more tightly around her, "Chilly."
"You're cold?" Leia asked, staring at Alice with one eyebrow raised, "It's sweltering in here."
Luke straightened up abruptly, looking distressed, "I shouldn't have come. I'm endangering the mission."
"It's your imagination," replied Han, briskly, "let's keep a little optimism here."
A tense silence fell, and as it stretched, that cold feeling grew stronger and stronger – it was unpleasant and searching, as if someone was watching her.
Han cursed under his breath, "They're not going for it. We'd better-"
"Shuttle Tiberium – deactivation of the shield will commence immediately. Follow your present course."
"Okay," said Han, cheering up at once, "I told you it was going to work."
"Yeah," Alice said, uneasily, "didn't you just."
Han steered them past the huge Imperial destroyer, saying, "No sarcasm, please, Alice. That was pretty damn close, even for us."
They soared towards Endor, a beautiful green and blue moon that reminded Alice achingly of Earth. It was strange, watching the view through the window change from the blackness of space to the blue of the planet's sky. Eventually they touched down in the middle of the thick forest, as far away as possible from the grey blobs that indicated other Imperial aircraft.
They all streamed out of the shuttle together, Team Luke and co. at the head of a slightly larger group of rebel warriors who'd been waiting in the main cabin. Alice rather pitied them as they stood there, so innocent and unaware of the rambling and generally unorthodox process any of their undertakings followed.
Han, as the leader of the mission, quickly marshalled the lot of them into a long, single-file line that snaked through the dense undergrowth in complete silence. Which was something Alice simply couldn't handle. So she turned to whisper something to Luke, trudging along at her side, "Hey-"
Leia turned around and shushed her at once.
Alice whispered, "Sorry."
"Shh."
"I was just-"
"Shh!"
Luke, who had snuck ahead of Leia while she told Alice off, grinned at her from behind his sister's back. Alice raised her eyebrows at him in return; Leia caught the look, and whipped around, but Luke had already turned away, the very picture of innocence.
Leia rolled her eyes and marched off to stand with Han, and Alice had to resist the urge to high five Luke. Could we be a better team?
Suddenly, Han gestured frantically for everyone to duck down. This everyone did, with a little internal grumbling on Alice's part. Han was peering through the grass, apparently watching something. When he turned around, he went laboriously through the process at pointing at Alice, Leia, Chewie and Luke in turn, before beckoning for all of them to follow him. Alice narrowed her eyes and glanced around as if to say, 'Did I hear something?' Han glared, and beckoned again; she frowned, and held a cupped hand up to her ear, mouthing, 'What?'
"Alice," Leia hissed, "be serious."
Alice relented, but shared another grin with Luke as the five of them crept to look at whatever it was Han wanted them to see.
They climbed a slight hill, and crouched on the ground, peering down into a small clearing where two storm troopers were tramping back and forth, inspecting tree roots and so on. Alice frowned, "What are they doing?"
"Does it matter?" Leia said, clearly still a little tetchy about the miming thing, "Shall we try and go round?"
"It'll take time," said Luke, craning his neck to get a better view.
"This whole party will be for nothing if they see us," Han said, "any ideas, Lieutenant Miller?"
Ooh, you are not in a good mood today.
"Uhh…"
Chewie whined softly, hopefully covering up for Alice's lack of ideas.
"Alright buddy." Han shot a look at the three of them, "Chewie and I'll take care of this. You lot, stay here."
Oh, Han. Bit of a losing battle trying to keep all of us out of trouble. Bless his little heart.
"Be quiet though," Luke said, warningly, as Han and Chewie made a move to leave, "there may be more of them out there."
"Hey," Han said, shooting them a not at all reassuring grin, "it's me."
Alice, Luke and Leia all glanced at each other. "To quote Threepio," Alice muttered, "we're doomed."
They watched, tense, as Han and Chewie crept off in separate directions to flank the unsuspecting storm troopers. Chewie didn't seem to have a problem moving quietly, despite his size; but Han's sneaking left something to be desired, as evidenced by the fact that as he moved forward to blast the storm trooper in the back, he made the rookie error of stepping on a twig.
Alice could see the look of panic on his face as it snapped. In the hush of the trees, the small noise seemed unnaturally loud. Instantly, the storm trooper spun and struck Han with a solid backhanded blow that sent him flying into the nearest tree. At the same time, his companion sprinted towards a speeder bike floating nearby, clearly off to warn someone of their presence.
"Great," Leia muttered, getting to her feet at once. Luke hurried after her, and the two of them started heading down some roundabout route to get to the bottom of the hill. Alice cocked her head. Why didn't they just go down here?
She took a step forward, intending to run straight down the hill in front of her and into the clearing, only to find herself unexpectedly falling through empty air. So that's why.
It turned out that, instead of actual ground, what Alice had taken to be a hill was in fact just a whole lot of alien plants that had grown to a height that suggested there being a hill beneath them.
She landed hard, and had the breath knocked out of her, an unpleasant feeling at the best of times, made somewhat worse by the fact that she had just landed on the storm trooper that Han was grappling with. He staggered back, surprised and breathless, "Thanks kid."
"No problem," Alice wheezed, "I just nearly died. No big deal."
Han helped her to her feet and they glanced over to see Luke and Leia disappearing on a speeder, clearly in pursuit of something. They looked at each other, "So, now what?"
Han huffed in irritation, "Well, now I guess we wait for those two to come back. Unbelievable. Racing off like that. Come on."
He took Alice by the hand as if she were a petulant four year old with a habit of wandering off (which she had been, when she was actually four years old) and dragged her back up the hill to where the rest of the strike party was waiting.
"Mistress Alice! General Solo! Thank goodness!"
"Yeah, yeah, can it, Goldenrod," Han said rudely, beckoning the rest of the men over to him, "we've lost Luke and Leia and our plan for now is to wait and see if they come back."
Alice muttered under her breath, "Great plan," but luckily Han didn't hear.
Obediently, the rest of the group all settled down in various positions, apparently perfectly prepared to wait for as long as they needed to.
With a huff, Alice set herself down on a tree root. "Why do I always get stuck in the boring sitting around parts? Damn it."
Artoo whistled sympathetically.
1800 hours. Still sitting in forest. Bum gone numb. Hooray. Alice twitched uncomfortably where she sat. "Please, Han," she burst out, "can I just walk around for a little bit, I can't feel my…legs."
"Alice," Han said, looking increasingly annoyed, "I said-"
"But if I stay sitting down and then something suddenly happens and we need to run away, I'll be completely useless," she complained, drumming an impatient beat on her knee.
"Someone's coming!"
"Like that," Alice muttered, as everyone scrambled to their feet and into hiding places.
Thanks for reading, and please review!
