A/N: Apologies for the massive delay in posting! I've been having some editing issues - when I say "issues" I really mean "I wasn't happy with a good chunk of the story so I'm rewriting most of it". But I'll get it done, I promise! In the meantime, here's chapter 1 - now, what has Juno Eclipse been up to in all this time? ;)

2 – Undisclosed Beliefs

The Salvation II

Today was not a good day. Juno Eclipse suspected tomorrow wouldn't be, either.

"How long have you been feeling this fatigue, Captain?" The Salvation II's chief medical officer, Dr Rillon, was shining a small flashlight into her eyes as she sat nervously on the examination table. She blinked, trying not to jerk away. The light burned.

"About a month. Maybe two. It's got worse in the last few weeks," she admitted, closing her eyes in relief as the flashlight was put away. Rillon tutted, shaking his lekku as he tapped something into a datapad.

"Juno, you have to look after yourself. Symptoms like this should be reported to me immediately."

Juno nodded. "I know. It's just been a bit hectic recently."

The twi'lek medic sighed. "Well, that's true enough, I suppose. Now, how is your diet? Are you eating properly? As good as you can with a ship's rations, at least."

Juno hesitated for a moment, debating on whether to voice her other concerns. "My appetite has been – erratic, lately. Sometimes I'm starving, sometimes the sight of food makes me feel ill."

Rillon frowned, and typed something else into his datapad. "I see. Anything else?"

"I...Doctor, I can count on complete patient confidentiality?" Juno felt like a guilty teenager again, not wanting to reveal a secret but having no choice. The medic nodded, his frown deepening.

"Of course, Juno. Always. What seems to be the problem? I don't suppose you would come to see me if you were just feeling tired."

"No," said Juno, a half-smile forming briefly, "I probably wouldn't have. It's...ah, a very personal matter."

The medical officer spread his arms, inviting her to speak. She coughed, nervously.

"My, um..." Her face reddened, her tongue unable to speak the words she wanted. "I think I might be pregnant."

She noted a flash of surprise cross his face, but it was quickly hidden by professional calmness. "Pregnant?" he repeated. Juno nodded slowly.

"Yes."

He looked down at his datapad. "Well, these symptoms make more sense, now."

"They do?"

"Fatigue and change of appetite are two of many possible symptoms of pregnancy, Captain. I take it you're late, in the sense of-"

"Um, yes, I am," said Juno, cutting across him. "It would be, um, about three months since – you know."

"Right," said Rillon, frowning again. "Captain, with all due respect, you must have suspected for some time of your condition. I wish you could have told me earlier of your suspicions."

Juno rubbed a hand over her forehead. "Yes. I – I know. After I missed the first one, I suspected. I was...I wanted to see if I was, you know, wrong. So I waited...and then. Well, and then I'm here."

She gave a short, mirthless laugh, and buried her head in her hands. What would her officers think of her? Stars, she hadn't considered that. And now she was on the verge of losing it in the middle of the medical bay. That would certainly be a talking point if any other crew members were to walk in.

Shaking her head, she rubbed her eyes furiously and looked at the doctor. He had sat down, and looked slightly weary.

"I'll take some more tests, just to be sure," he said, smiling kindly at her, "We should get the results in a day or so. Until then," he frowned at her, "Take it easy. How long has it been since you last had time off?"

"It would be...three months," Juno finished. She'd done the math. The doctor raised an eyebrow, and Juno knew what was coming. He was her doctor, but he was also her friend, and she knew him too well for him to pass over a witty remark.

"You enjoyed it, I trust?" he said, a sly smile forming. Juno rolled her eyes.

"If you weren't my friend, I could get you for insubordination," she muttered, "Making fun of a superior officer."

Rillon shrugged. "What happens on shore leave stays on shore leave," he sighed, "Although I can't promise that you will be allowed to stay on active duty if the tests are positive. You know the rules, Captain."

Yes, she did; and how she chastised herself now. She felt foolish, like she'd forgotten the most basic of military rules.

"I'll take those tests now," she said, sliding off of the examination table, "If you don't mind. And then I need to get back to-"

"- No, you don't," interrupted the doctor, waving his datapad at her. "Chief medical officer's orders. Remember?"

Juno shook her head, the corners of her mouth twitching. "Right. I'll take a few hours off. Happy?"

"It'll do, Captain. Now, if you'd step over here, I'll just take a blood sample..."

It had been approximately four years since the Salvation, Juno's previous command, had been destroyed over Kamino. Thankfully, she had not been on board at the time; if she had, she suspected that she would not be standing in front of the memorial dedicating its memory to its successor, the Salvation II. Not the most imaginative of names, but it somehow fit perfectly.

Juno had been nominated as the captain of the newly-commissioned Salvation II (a goodwill present from the Mon Calamari shipyards) around a year after the events of Kamino. There had been a few disagreements within the Admiralty as to whether she should have been nominated in the first place: she had, after all, been suspended temporarily from her position mere days before the Salvation's destruction. From her old crew, however, there was overwhelming support for her as the new captain – to them, she had proven herself to be a hardworking and loyal leader, one that was dedicated to serving the Alliance.

She and Galen, meanwhile, had settled into a routine of undertaking various recon and espionage missions for the Rebel Alliance. Sometimes with Kota, sometimes without. Juno had privately admitted that it was a little like the old days, when they had been running from everyone, not just the Empire. Just them and the Rogue Shadow, and a million different hyperspace routes.

She thought about this as she stood, distantly staring out of the viewport at an asteroid field. Her life would have turned out very different if it had not been for the arrival of a young Sith apprentice, she thought. What would she have become? Who would she have become?

And what would have happened to Galen?

The thought made her cold, and she shivered. The view out across the asteroid field, in a small system where the Rebel fleet had gathered temporarily, did nothing to calm her mind. She was glad that this section of the ship was temporarily deserted, as crewmembers took the opportunity to meet with friends from other ships in the fleet. Juno wasn't sure she could handle intrusive questions about her wellbeing at the moment.

Her comlink beeped once, signalling an incoming file to her datapad and Juno glanced at it, her shoulders slumping.

Message from Dr. Rillon –

Enclosed are the results from your medical test. I'm afraid the outcome is as you suspected.

Juno stared at the screen of her datapad blankly. She had suspected, yes, but the seeing the official results made it all the more real. She hadn't told the doctor the real reason she had been avoiding seeing him – she had childishly thought that perhaps if she ignored the problem, it would go away. Of course, that was never going to be the case.

Now, she had a hundred extra problems to deal with on top of her Alliance duties. As medical check-ups go, thought Juno wearily, that was easily the worst.

She needed time to think; it had been practically non-stop for months, with the Empire stepping up their search for the Alliance and the Alliance stepping up its attacks on the Empire. Now, on top of everything else – her ship was needing serious repairs, the numbers of recruits were at an all-time low, neither Galen nor Kota hadn't been seen or heard for months – she had a secret, a very unexpected, unwelcome secret that she couldn't do a thing about and left her feeling quite helpless.

She wanted to scream, yell, anything to get her out of this mess. The worst part of it was that she had no-one really she could talk to about it. She had friends aboard the ship, of course, but none she considered close enough to tell. Perhaps if her mother was still alive, she would have asked her, but as it was, she could barely remember her face.

As she contemplated her options, she realised that her legs had been on autopilot, and she had reached the turbolift that would lead her to her cabin. She wondered, keying in the elevator code, what would happen next. What would her fellow crewmembers think of her? She would most likely be discharged from the Alliance. It dawned on Juno that she'd spent all of her adult and most of her adolescent life in active service, whether it was in the Empire or the Alliance. She'd never really known anything else, and thinking about the alternative didn't exactly fill her with joy.

Finally, she reached the door to her cabin and punched the release, collapsing onto her bunk before the door had even fully slid shut. She groaned to herself and ran her hands through her now-messy blonde hair, staring up at the ceiling. All the signs had been there, really, she had just been ignorant enough to not notice.

Now she was angry, wondering how a captain of almost five years' service could have such a terrible lapse of judgement. Juno shook her head, attempting to clear some of the bad thoughts that were hiding at the back of her mind, and leant down from the bunk to grab the datapad, which had somehow made its way onto the floor as Juno had stormed into the room. Poor lapse of judgement, indeed. Sighing, she was jolted out of her musings by a distraction in the way of PROXY, his metal limbs creaking audibly as he entered the room.

"Aha! There you are, Captain!" he called, finally reaching her. If droids could be breathless, PROXY certainly would be, as his servos whined in complaint and he stumbled, his knee-joints threatening to give way. Juno stood up and put a hand out to steady him.

"Easy, PROXY. What's the rush?"

"I believe that I will be receiving a message in the imminent future. Princess Leia left a message earlier saying to expect a transmission soon."

"Oh. What could the princess want?" Juno speculated, swallowing nervously.

"I do not know, Captain. I could not find you after your medical examination so I was unable to notify you."

"That's alright, PROXY. I'm here now."

"So you are, Captain. I trust your medical went well?"

Juno hesitated. "You…could say that, yes. I am in good health." Well, it's not a lie, exactly.

She heard the door close behind PROXY, and she sat back down on the bunk, feeling suddenly exhausted. Remembering the datachip that the medic had given her, she gingerly inserted it into her datapad. Opening the medical report, she read in more detail, trying to make sense of it all. She'd been too busy reacting to the shock of what the medic had told her to actually pay attention to the finer details.

Juno's eyes skimmed the pages, trying to find the relevant data. Before she had fully read the report, however, PROXY started crackling, his holoprojectors taking on the form of Princess Leia, dressed in full winter gear and looking a little cold.

"Juno. It's good to see you," Princess Leia greeted her warmly. Juno smiled back at her friend, glad for the interruption.

"You too, Princess. How are things on Hoth?"

Leia rolled her eyes.

"Slow. There's still maintenance droids working on some parts of the base, so everywhere is still very cold." As if to prove her point, she shivered in her large winter coat.

"I can imagine," grinned Juno, "Turns out rebellion isn't as glamorous as it looks. I learned that the hard way."

Leia nodded, her cheerful smile fading somewhat. "I think you probably know why I'm calling, though. I've just come off of a call from the chief medic of your ship..."

Juno nodded sombrely. "Should I find a replacement for my position?" It was all happening so fast.

"Oh! No. I mean – don't be afraid, or anything. The Alliance isn't going to discharge you."

"Really? But I thought – standard protocol…" Juno could hardly believe what she was hearing.

Leia waved down Juno's comment. "This is a war. Drastic times call for drastic measures. Not that your situation would be called drastic, Juno," she added kindly, as if Juno might have been offended by the comment. "No, you're being reassigned from your current position. I'm supervising a classified operation, one that will be taking place in the next few months. It's mainly undercover, recon-type work, so it's less risky than your current position."

"That's…well, it's a lot better than what I could have hoped. Thank you," said Juno, and she meant it. Leia smiled tightly.

"To be honest, you were going to be included in the operation anyway. I just…pulled some strings to get you on it sooner. Any longer on that ship and people might ask questions."

Juno nodded, agreeing. "One question – how did you know? I mean, no offence, but you're not directly my commanding officer."

Leia coughed, looking a little sheepish. "The medic decided it would be best to call me first. What was his name – Doctor Rillon? He's looking out for you. I can assure you that no-one else is aware of your circumstances."

Juno sighed in relief. "When do I leave?"

"Well, you will need someone to take over as captain; I presume your second-in-command is up to the job?"

"Yes."

"In that case, you leave tomorrow, once all your affairs are in order. The co-ordinates should be coming through now; we will be meeting on Hoth before I can tell you anything else."

"It's all classified, then?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I can't afford to take any chances with security over a holo-transmission. Although…" Leia broke off, looking thoughtful. "I suppose it wouldn't be against Alliance protocol to tell you that Galen arrived on Hoth about a week ago. He and Kota are both here, along with the Rogue Shadow."

Juno released a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. Thank the stars. She hadn't heard a word from Galen since he set off with Kota to some far corner of the galaxy, after their most recent shore leave. And now they were safe. At least that was some of her worries abated.

Some. But not all.

"Does Galen know?" Leia broke into her thoughts. Now she sounded less the regal princess, and more the friend.

"No. I haven't known where he is up until just now, so I wasn't able to contact him."

Leia nodded. "Well, you're not the only one. They were pretty much AWOL until they turned up at the base last week. It looks like they're lying low for a while. Seems they got themselves into some trouble in the Outer Rim which they're trying to avoid. You can ask them yourself when you get here."

Oh, I will. She hated to be the one to say it, but she missed Galen terribly.

"Thank you, Leia," she said again instead, nodding her head. "You've definitely helped my situation."

The princess smiled sadly. "We can only hope. In the meantime, though, don't breathe a word about the mission to anyone. It's still pretty top secret - we're finding that somehow some of our most classified data is slipping through the cracks into the hands of the Imperials."

"I understand," said Juno, feeling the conversation coming to an end. "It's been good talking with you, Princess."

"You too, Captain. You'll receive further details on your transfer soon. I'll be able to sort things out with the rest of the leaders."

Juno nodded in acknowledgment, and then Leia's image flickered and vanished, leaving PROXY standing, looking – if droids could – slightly confused.

"Do I understand, Captain, that we are being reassigned to the Hoth base?"

"It seems that way, PROXY. But-" she broke off, hesitating, "You have to understand that no-one else is to hear about what I was just discussing with Leia. The information is…sensitive."

"Understood, Captain." The droid made an attempt at nodding. Juno looked at her chrono.

"I'd best be getting back to the bridge now. PROXY, you have other duties to be attending to, I presume?"

"Certainly, Captain Eclipse. I'll be on my way. I do hope that the communications department have not suffered in my absence."

Juno hid an amused smile, watching as PROXY wandered out of the cabin, creaking loudly. She noted that he was clearly in need of a service, and made a mental reminder to do that once they arrived on Hoth. Remembering the datapad that she had discarded on her bunk when Leia's transmission had come through, she picked it up and frowned. Sitting down again – her crew were perfectly capable of managing another couple of minutes without her – she flicked through the rest of the report, trying to ignore the gnawing feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. Telling Galen would be the hardest thing, she knew. She felt like she had known him for so long, but she still had no idea how he would react.

Closing the report and shutting off her datapad, she stood up and smoothed down her uniform, looking at her reflection in the mirror anxiously. Hopefully her crew wouldn't suspect anything untoward, at least until she had left the ship.

The thought of being judged for something that, really, was inevitable caused Juno's cheeks to burn. She had found herself in the sort of predicament that Juno would have strongly condemned in the not-too-distant past. Her views had gradually become more liberal as the Empire's influence had ebbed; enough to make her see that she had done nothing wrong, per se. There was just that tiny niggle at the back of her mind, the part of her conscience still firmly in the mind of the Empire that whispered, But you remember what happened to pilots when things like this happened…

Shaking her head at an attempt to clear her thoughts, Juno glared at herself in the mirror. She and Galen had been together for a long time. They had survived the battle of Kamino, the destruction of the Death Star and the fall of Dantooine and Alderaan. They could surely survive this.

However, that didn't stop Juno Eclipse, decorated combat pilot and captain for the Rebel Alliance, from feeling totally, utterly afraid.

end note: Hope you managed to get through all the dialogue! Thanks for sticking with this, if you've got this far - I'm really excited to share the rest of the story soon! hugs x

also forgot to say! i have tumblr, find me on my art/writing blog as carrotycake. or my general fandom blog itsacuriousthing :D