Edit: forgot to add an author's note, sorry! Maybe the chapter title will give you a hint at what happens next, anyhow ;)

As always, I own nothing, and I always appreciate your comments!

4 - Reunited

Echo Base, Hoth

It wasn't often that Galen found himself smiling, or even in a good mood, for that matter. Usually, as the Rebels around him came to realise, it would be to do with a certain Rebel captain by the name of Juno Eclipse. Rumours circulated, but no-one was really sure of the true extent of their relationship; how they met, where they met, what exactly the smart, wise-cracking captain saw in the brooding agent known to most as Starkiller.

"Let them guess," she'd smile, before hooking her arms around his neck and pressing her lips against his, so that anything else was quite impossible for him to concentrate on. He missed her, terribly; Three months felt like an eternity when Juno wasn't there.

"Pass me that hydrospanner, would you?" Galen called to the astromech droid giving him a hand with some repairs on the Rogue Shadow. The engine had been slightly damaged in the recent snow storm, and the shields looked like they needed some work. As well as about twenty other different parts of the ship, but it would function for now. The little droid, loaned to him temporarily by Princess Leia, seemed enthusiastic as it cheeped and whistled away. He just had to direct it to the problem, and it would go to work immediately, its little welder sparking as it went about the repairs. It also had a very unique personality – Galen would put it on a par with PROXY, even though he couldn't understand a word of what it was saying.

A hydrospanner was indeed thrown in his direction, narrowly missing his head. Galen caught it, with some help from the Force, and set about his own repairs.

"You're hiding from me, boy."

Galen sighed, and slid out from underneath the ship's innards to look at the source of the voice.

"Kota. Have you come to lecture me again about Juno? Because there's nothing you can say or do about that."

The blind man shook his head.

"There's a time and a place for that. Besides, she's arriving soon, as I'm sure you know. And she's a nice girl, but I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of her."

Galen nodded, thoughts of Callos forming in his head. He quickly pushed them away, not sure at all why they had appeared, and focused on the positive. Juno was coming. They would be together again. He remembered something that had been on his mind recently, and thought to voice his concern.

"Do you know the reason why she's coming? It seems like an unusual transfer, especially for a Captain of her rank," he said, getting to his feet and wiping the dust and grease off his overalls. Kota shrugged.

"Well, you heard the message," he grunted, "It's top-secret, classified intel. You'll just have to wait, boy."

"That's the official line," Galen argued, "But I got the feeling that wasn't the whole reason. Something just felt…off. It's hard to explain. Something in Juno's voice, I guess."

"I have been feeling something different in the Force recently," Kota admitted, his gruffness fading for a moment, "but the Force works in mysterious ways. You can interpret it in any way you like."

The old man cracked a smile. "Besides, it's no bad thing that she's coming. It means you'll stop looking so sullen all the time. Lighten up, boy. It'll do you good."

"You're one to talk," muttered Galen, but he knew the old general was probably right. He did have a reputation of being somewhat moody, but that wasn't really his fault. He was starting to improve. A little. That didn't stop the furtive, intimidated glances often sent his way when they thought he wasn't looking, however. He was used to it now, so it didn't bother him. Juno was on her way. That was what mattered to him now.

"Maybe I am," replied Kota, "But I've lived a lot longer than you have. I have an excuse."

The hint of a smile reached Galen's face, and he shook his head at the Jedi. "That's a terrible excuse."

"Hmph. Whatever you say." He waved a hand vaguely. "I'll leave you to it. It looks like you're getting on fine with the repairs, though," Kota nodded at the Rogue Shadow. "How long until it's ready to fly again?"

"Now, if you want. But I'd like to do some more work on it, so maybe a day or two. Don't worry, general, you won't be out of action for long. I'm sure you can hitch a lift on one of the snowspeeders if you need to." Galen smirked at the general, and he glowered back.

"Fine. I'll be in the mess hall if you need me." With that, he loped off, presumably to find someone else's ship to hijack. Galen turned his attention back to the repairs, but was soon distracted again by the arrival of a shiny, gold protocol droid. He presumed that it belonged to Princess Leia.

"I'm terribly sorry to bother you," it wittered, "But Her Former Royal Highness has asked me to tell you that she needs the services of R2-D2, and must request that you return him a little earlier than expected."

"Artoo-Deetoo? Oh, right. Him," said Galen, pointing to the little astromech still welding away at the ship.

"Yes," said the protocol droid, "That is the one. Princess Leia has an important transmission coming through, and Artoo is the trusted droid for the job. Goodness knows why, however. How she can trust that oversized bag of bolts is quite beyond me."

Galen had to hold back a laugh at the droid's words. The astromech droid, Artoo, has stopped its welding and was wheeling over to them. It emitted a series of angry beeps, and the protocol droid seemed quite affronted.

"How dare you! I must say, I have never met a droid with such bad manners. Come on, we must get back to the princess immediately. I – what did you say? Goodness. The things I must put up with…"

The protocol droid bid Galen farewell, and together with Artoo, moved away to enter one of the turbolifts to take them further into the base. He shook his head, still feeling slightly baffled by the whole encounter.

It was then that Galen realised that there was more activity than usual around the hangar. He could see harried engineers checking readings and shouting numbers at each other, and mechanics checking the hangar doors. That was odd; only ten minutes previously the hangar had been almost deserted. That must mean-

Juno.

She must have just entered the atmosphere; suddenly, he could feel her, sense her in the Force, and it was one of the most wonderful feelings he would ever have the pleasure to experience. Three months was far too long; he didn't care about why she was coming, or how she had gotten the transfer. They would be together again, at last, and could catch up on the time spent apart.

However, he realised suddenly that he had been standing stock still with his eyes faraway for the best part of a minute, and knew that he wasn't exhibiting the best behaviour for someone supposed to be doing repairs. He sighed, and resorted to pacing the hangar until a technician gave him a dirty look and accused him of 'messing up his readings'.

Muttering an apology, he walked back around the side of the Rogue Shadow and opened the maintenance hatch, attempting to finish what he had been doing earlier, although his mind wasn't in it. After nearly electrocuting himself and swearing profusely – again causing the technician to scowl – he could hear the jabbering from comlinks, and knew that something was happening with the hangar doors.

He bent back over his repairs and tried to distract himself, with limited success. It wasn't long until he could see Juno. That was all that mattered.

"Uh…Starkiller?"

Galen turned around to look at the source of the voice to see the timid ensign from the day before standing a few feet away, fiddling with a datapad.

"Yes?"

"I just w-wanted – I mean, that is, I've been g-given the information to tell you – a shuttle from the ship Salvation II is d-due to dock in the hangar in a c-couple of minutes…" The ensign paused, tapping away at his datapad. "I p-presume this information is relevant to you?"

"Um, yes, it is," said Galen, although he had already worked that out, "Thank you. Who – how did you get the information?"

The ensign blanched, apparently unused to being asked direct questions. "Oh. Um. J-Just the general t-transmission records and radar screens. Anyone w-within the Rebels can access them." He nodded at Galen and hurried away, his comlink squawking instructions at him. Galen shook his head, but didn't dwell on the strange young recruit. Instead, he found himself clenching and unclenching his fists, trying not to let his eagerness show. Not long now, and Juno would be here. He put away his tools and tidied up the area, giving himself something to do while he waited. The hangar area was huge, but he knew that he wouldn't – couldn't – miss her, not when they were so close.

Eventually, finally, he could hear the huge hangar bay doors opening, and could see from his vantage point several ships flying in, landing cautiously on their assigned docking bays. Starkiller leaned against the Rogue Shadow, arms folded. He couldn't tell exactly which one was Juno's, as all the ships looked pretty much the same, but he could sense from the ship stationed – naturally – furthest away from the Shadow that certain sense he felt in the Force whenever Juno was around. It took all of his willpower not to go over and find her himself, but he reckoned that that probably wouldn't be the best way of keeping things private between them. No, he would wait, and be patient. He could almost hear Kota's voice in his head.

"Patience, boy."

He could remember the general saying those exact words over Kashyyyk, before he had realised that it was none other than Princess Leia of Alderaan he would be rescuing. Although, in her defence, she probably didn't really need rescuing. He had seen her work with the Rebellion over the last couple of years; for someone raised as royalty, she was incredibly competent both on and off the battlefield.

Galen could see Juno walking towards him now, having left PROXY by the shuttle. He found that his heart was beating wildly, and he seemed to have lost the capacity to speak.

"Juno!" he called, when she was within earshot. Just to check that it was her, and that he was not dreaming. He could see her face split into a grin, and her pace quickened. Before he knew it, he was moving towards her, gathering speed, until she was in his arms in a tight embrace. He swung her around, and she giggled, wrapping her arms further around his neck.

Time seemed to stop as he felt her lips press against his for the first time in what felt like eons.

"Oh, I've missed you," she murmured, once they had broken apart, her arms still clasped tightly around his neck.

"It's been too long," Galen agreed, sighing as he thought about how long he had dreamed of seeing her again. Her presence in the Force comforted him, although something didn't quite feel…right. Like something was off. It couldn't be Juno; surely not? But when he stretched out through the Force, he felt fear and uncertainty radiating from her in waves.

He wanted to ask her what was wrong – he could feel her anguish and discomfort through the Force, and it wasn't hard to tell from her facial expressions, no matter how convincing she tried to make them. He suspected that her small talk was her way of stalling – she would probably tell him what was wrong in due course. Galen, being himself, however, wasn't willing to wait until due course – this was Juno Eclipse, the only person he would ever love, and if something was the matter then he needed to know.

"Juno," he began uncertainly, not sure as to where the conversation would lead, "You would tell me if something was…wrong, wouldn't you?"

Juno blinked at him, her forced smile vanishing. She was holding on to his hand and he felt the pressure as she gave an involuntary squeeze. "I – of course, Galen. Why do you say that?"

"Because…" Oh, this is hard. "Because I can tell you're hiding something. Please, Juno, just tell me. I can't stand not knowing…there's something, isn't there?"

Adamantly, she shook her head. "Galen, i-it's nothing. I'm just tired, is all. It's been a hectic couple of months. And I was so worried about you! Leia said something about a mission gone awry in the Outer Rim?"

"Oh, that." Galen coughed, guiltily. "Yeah, that wasn't really authorised. But I'm fine, you don't need to worry about me."

"But I do!" she flared, standing up suddenly and beginning to pace. "I do worry about you, Galen. Over three months, and I didn't hear a thing about you from any of the radio chatter."

"It has been longer before," he reminded her, remembering a few years previously when he and Kota were away for a little over five months. Hell, in other words.

"Yes, but we could still communicate – I still knew that you were alive!" She turned to him, her gaze firm. Galen didn't know what to do.

"Juno, what-"

"Over three months, Galen. I heard rumours. And I know now that you're okay, because Leia told me, but for so long I didn't know…" She trailed off, halting her pacing and scuffing her boots on the duracrete floor of the hangar.

"I'm fine, Juno. Honestly." Galen still wasn't entirely sure where the conversation was leading, but hoped he was saying the right thing. He reached forward, using the pause in Juno's rant to take her hands and pull her towards him. Her blue eyes met his, and the hint of a smile softened her features slightly.

"I know you are. I just-" She broke off, shaking her head, stroking the side of his face absently. Galen closed his eyes and placed his hands gently on her waist.

"I've missed you," he offered simply, not knowing what else to say.

"Oh, stang," Juno sighed, the sad smile that appeared at least genuine. "Me too."

They embraced again, Galen holding her close and hiding his own certainty. She was deflecting, and she was an expert at it. With anyone else he would be annoyed; with Juno, he was concerned. But press any more and she would shut down even further. And after three months apart, that was the last thing he wanted.

She sighed, and yawned, signalling a change of subject. "Kriff, I'm tired. Don't suppose you know the way to a cabin?"

"A cabin?"

"Preferably with a bed. You're welcome to join me." This was Juno: wise-cracking and sarcastic. Part of him knew that she resorted to humour occasionally to avoid personal questions, but that was okay; he was prone to deflecting just as much as she was. He pulled her close, and she kissed him urgently, hungrily, a welcome escape from the outside world.

"I would love to show you – oh." Both Juno and Galen's comlinks were flashing, buzzing irritably at them. Galen looked at his and was tempted to crush it in his hands, but decided against it. His previous comlink had met a similar fate, and he suspected the Alliance was tired of replacing comlinks damaged through his own personal anger management issues. He snapped it shut, deciding instead to ignore it.

"Yes?" Juno was listening through to her link. "Yes, okay. We'll be right there. Yes, Galen is with me. I'll tell him. Juno out." As she hung up, she rolled her eyes at him. "Urgent meeting. Thirty minutes. Leia wants us both there."

"Both of us? But we're not…I mean, we're on separate assignments," said Galen, frowning. Juno shook her head.

"Not any more. We've been officially reassigned, as of two minutes ago."

Twenty minutes and one change of clothes later, Juno was making her way cautiously towards what she hoped was the correct conference room. The trouble with Echo Base, she had discovered quickly, was that all of the corridors looked the same. She hadn't really had much time for an orientation tour before all of the action kicked off.

Juno tried not to think about Galen's face when she had lied to him; he knew something was up, she could tell. It just wasn't the right time.

She was also now sincerely regretting telling Galen that she would meet him there; her quest to find suitable winter clothing had been successful, but now she wasn't entirely sure if she was heading in the right direction. Passing several Rebel workers, she tried to stop them and ask for directions, but they all seemed to be busy, apologising and hurrying off.

"Excuse me," she said, noticing a figure coming out of a room a little further ahead, and appearing to be heading the same way as her, "I don't suppose you could tell me the way to Conference Room 11B?"

"Heading that way myself, actually," the figure said, turning to face her. A tall, human male with light coloured hair and a neat beard; he looked vaguely familiar to Juno, but she couldn't quite place him.

"Thank goodness," she said, "I've just arrived, so…"

"Everything looks the same?" finished the man, grinning. Juno felt the corners of her mouth twitching.

"Something like that. So, how much further…?" she gestured, as they walked along the corridor.

"Not far. Just along here, and then to the left," he replied, waving his arm vaguely. "The name's Starter, by the way. I'm a pilot in the Alliance Starfighter Corps."

Starter. It certainly rang a bell. "Juno Eclipse," she replied cautiously, "Officer in the Alliance Fleet. I take it we've been assigned to the same operation, then?"

Starter looked suddenly confused. "I – yes, I suppose so- Juno Eclipse? Are you sure? Because I knew a Juno Eclipse, once, and she wouldn't have joined the Rebels in a million years."

Now Juno remembered. Starter had been a cadet at the same time as she had; a few years older, perhaps, but then everyone had been a few years older than Juno when she started at the Academy. They were friends, briefly, and he had kept away most of the bullies – until he was expelled for poor conduct and general disregard for the rules. She had never known his full name.

"The same one," she said, raising an eyebrow. "I remember you, now. Corulag. You were expelled from the Imperial Academy, correct?"

Starter nodded, a smug smile forming. "Yeah. I knew the Empire wasn't the right path for me, anyway. But - Juno? Last time I saw you, you were some fifteen-year-old kid at the top of her class, a stickler for all that bantha fodder the Empire threw at us. What happened to you?"

Juno swallowed. The truth, of course, was that she graduated at the top of her class, and commanded, for a time, one of the Empire's deadliest fighter squadrons. Which indirectly led to the biological destruction of an entire planet. But the truth was not something she would be willing to share – at least not like this. Her past with the Empire wasn't exactly a secret within the Rebellion, but it wasn't something she liked to broadcast on a daily basis. Let them judge who she was now, as opposed to the Juno Eclipse of several years previously.

Instead, she waved a vague, gloved hand.

"Oh, you know. Graduated, flew a few runs for the Empire before they decided I didn't have the right mindset for them. Got out fairly quick before they could do anything bad. Same old, really," she smiled. It wasn't technically a lie, anyway. The man she knew as 'Starter' nodded.

"Fair enough," he said, "Glad to hear you got out in time, anyway. I always knew you had a smart head on your shoulders."

Juno nodded uncomfortably, unsure of how to respond. However, she was spared the stress as Starter spent the rest of the time talking about how well he'd done since leaving the Empire (kicked out, actually, thought Juno), and generally boosting what appeared to be a considerable ego. They reached the conference room, and Starter held the door open for her as she entered.

At the head of the room, there was a large holo-map, showing a planet that Juno couldn't make out. There was about seven or so other people in the room already, a variety of species sitting around in chairs hastily drawn up for the purposes of the meeting.

Galen – naturally – was sitting by himself, spare seats on either side of him. Juno thanked Starter for showing her the way, and then watched as he slid into a seat next to a bored-looking Sullustan and engaged the poor alien in conversation.

"Find this place okay?" he asked quietly, turning his head to look at her in a way that suggested he was asking more about how she was than her aptitude for directions. Juno nodded mutely, not wanting to face his concern for a second time that day.

Instead, she found his hand and squeezed it, silently letting him know that she was okay. Or at least, she would be. When she could finally muster up the courage to tell him.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Princess Leia entering the room, followed by the last few people shuffling in and taking their seats. Leia moved to the holo-map, and keyed in a few directions. The general babble had died down, and everyone waited patiently for the princess to begin.

"I suppose you're all wondering why you have been called to this meeting," she began, looking around at them all, regal as ever. Juno admired the way the Princess handled leadership – Leia was younger than her by several years, but somehow managed to keep everyone in line, and earn the respect of the many Rebel fighters. She did especially well, considering the way leadership was thrust upon the young woman, with the destruction of Alderaan and the death of her father.

"To tell the truth," Leia continued, "This is a mission we are all going to have to take risks on. The people you see next to you are going to be your teammates for the next few months – you will have to trust each other implicitly, or the mission will already be a failure.

"You are being sent to Corulag, one of the central Core Worlds held in the Empire's grip. It was one of the earliest supporters of the Galactic Empire, and its population is still incredibly loyal to the Emperor. We have been contacted by a rebel cell located in the planet's capital city, Curamelle, asking for our assistance to overthrow the government. Ahsoka Tano and Rahm Kota will be heading up this team when you land on Corulag."

There was a sharp intake of breath by everyone in the room; certainly, no one had been expecting that. Take down the – government? Of Corulag, one of the staunchest supporters of the Empire?

Juno felt a sharp jolt at the mention of her homeworld. Well, former homeworld. It had been years since she had left there, and hadn't expected to return so soon, if at all. There were many memories associated with the planet, and most of them weren't pleasant to recall.

"With all due respect, Your Highness, the government on Corulag is the Empire. That's not exactly an easy thing to 'overthrow', as you put it." The Sullustan female sat next to Starter spoke up, shaking her head apprehensively.

"And even if we do, well, take them down, the Empire will just send a couple dozen Star Destroyers to descend on the planet, and everything will be as normal within a few days," added another, and a chorus of agreement was murmured around the room. Leia nodded, looking a little tired.

"Yes, the Alliance realises that. The request we received was for that nature, but we are not going to respond to it as such. This is still a fairly primitive rebel cell – we need to teach them that there are other ways to fight the Empire. They have only seen oppression in the local form; we have seen it galaxy-wide.

"So, we are going to help them. We're going to infiltrate the Empire from the inside, steal its dirty secrets and turn them inside out so they have no-where to hide." The princess paused, her face reddening at her emotive language. She coughed softly and composed herself. "But we're not going to be destroying anything as such, not yet. This is more a reconnaissance mission, if you will. Corulag is seen as a 'model example' of Imperial behaviour. We need to get inside that, and to see what we're up against."

Leia paused, then, looking around at the odd group of Alliance soldiers. No-one said a word, although Juno suspected that may have been due to general speechlessness rather than a lack of protest. She raised a hand, a question niggling at the back of her mind.

"What happens when we've gathered the intel? Do we just up and leave, or will the Alliance come and give us a hand?"

She was worried about what the Alliance was planning with Corulag – she may not have enjoyed her time there, but it was still where she was born and grew up, and that meant something, at least. She certainly didn't want to see it reduced to ashes on her watch – she didn't think she could live with that, especially after Callos.

She also didn't miss Leia's hesitation.

"So far, all of you here are the only ones assigned to this mission. There's still a lot of details to be worked out, but as of right now…"

"It's just us, on our own, in the middle of an Imperial-controlled planet," interrupted Galen, one eyebrow raised in scepticism. Juno smirked, wondering how he had managed to stay silent for so long. Leia sighed.

"Well, yes. Like I said, there's a lot of things still to be worked out. Your task for the next few months will be to gather as much intelligence as you can before you get there – you will, of course, be going undercover, which will involve requisitioning fake identities, amongst other things. The full list will be sent to all of your datapads, and you can take it from there. The Alliance will provide you with more information as and when it is pertinent."

Juno felt Galen bristle, and squeezed his hand warningly before he said something he may regret later.

"'As and when it is pertinent'?" he said, frowning. "What does the Rebellion not want us to know?"

"The information is highly classified," replied Leia, her lips in a thin line, "I'm not at liberty to tell you everything right now. Which…" she paused, sighing, "…wasn't my choice. But rules are rules, I'm afraid."

"So is that all we're getting just now?" piped up the Sullustan in the corner of the room, "Basically, we're being sent on a mission to Corulag, in the centre of Imperial space, to help out some ragtag bunch of rebels. But not blow stuff up. Just help them. Whatever that means, yeah?"

The princess nodded. "As far as I know, yes. Although…" she hesitated again, and tapped out a few things on her datapad, "…the Alliance has asked me to tell you that this mission is top-secret. No-one outside of this room should know the true nature of this mission. In short, this objective we are pursuing is highly dangerous, and if you are discovered by Imperials, the Alliance has no choice but to deny involvement."

Juno's eyebrows shot up, and found herself unable to speak. There was a murmur across the room – The Rebellion? Deny involvement? That's not very – That doesn't seem fair! Doing their dirty work – no credit – and she noted the atmosphere had turned very frosty, very quickly. Leia seemed to have noticed that as well, and held up a hand for silence.

"I know what you're all thinking," she said, and Juno could hear the girl trained by the High Alderaanian court, "But the Alliance is not going to abandon you. This mission is strictly under-the-radar, so to speak, but you are still soldiers of the Rebellion, and you can be sure the Rebellion does not leave anyone behind. Besides," she allowed herself a smile, "We're quite certain you are not going to get caught. You've all been chosen especially to be here, so your competence is not an issue."

Your competence is not an issue. Juno disagreed. Quite soon, the time would come when she would no longer be able to perform her duties – surely, her competence would be an issue then? Galen glanced at her, perhaps sensing her discomfort through the Force. She shot him a glare back. Not now. He nodded once, and they turned their attention back to Leia, who was now rounding up the meeting and drawing it to a close.

"…So, you will see the Alliance requisitions officer tomorrow to get started with your new identities, and we'll continue it from there. In the meantime, you are dismissed. I suggest that you all introduce yourselves to each other, as you will be working together for a reasonable amount of time."

With that, she shut down the holo-display and made to exit the room. She stopped briefly by Juno, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I would stay longer to chat," Leia said, sighing, "But I've been called to another emergency meeting with the rest of the leaders."

"I understand," Juno replied, "I see how democracy can get a little tiring. You're doing well."

"Ugh. Tell me about it." The young princess smiled, and bid her farewell. "It was nice talking to you, Captain. We'll have to have a proper catch-up soon."

"I'd like that," said Juno, glad to have a friend in Leia. The princess spent a few moments talking to some of the others, Kota and Ahsoka included, before making her exit.

After what seemed like an eternity of awkward mingling, Juno was introduced to the people who would be part of their team for the next few months. She already knew Ahsoka Tano, from when the Togruta was briefly assigned to the Salvation II a few years back. The former Jedi cast an intimidating presence in the room; she held the air of someone who had seen too much too young. A little like Galen, Juno mused.

Kota was there too, looking unimpressed at having to socialise. He pulled her into a gruff hug when he saw her, though, which Juno had not expected.

"You're getting soft, Kota," she jibed. The old man frowned, and shrugged.

"It's old age," he muttered, "Don't tell anyone."

Juno laughed. "I won't tell a soul," she said, smiling.

Kota nodded over to where Galen was standing, having somehow found himself deep in conversation with a rather enthusiastic Mon Calamari cadet. He caught Juno's eye briefly, and made a slight 'I-have-no-idea' shrugging motion before returning to the conversation.

"I think the boy is trapped," said Kota, smirking.

"I think so too," agreed Juno, trying hard not to laugh.

The angry Sullustan from earlier came over and introduced herself as Neve, a starship engineer. Juno was impressed by her credentials – the woman had fought many battles for the local resistance on her home planet before joining up as an engineer. Her "retirement", as she called it.

"That's Jesman," explained Neve, nodding to Galen's enthusiastic new friend. "He's an expert slicer and computer expert. He can be...intense, at times. But he's a good kid."

"Kid? How old is he?" Juno asked, concerned. Neve shrugged.

"Old enough to join the cause and fight. He can aim and shoot a blaster, if that's what you're asking. Never too young to start 'em, I always say."

"Er...right," said Juno, her worries not abated by Neve's casual attitude.

"Anyways," said Neve, as if she had not heard Juno, "I have ships to repair, if no-one needs me right now. We're gonna have a hell of a lot of work on our hands in the next few weeks."

"That we are," replied Juno, bidding her goodbye. That we are.

Eventually, the rest of the team dissipated from the room – a wide array of names and faces for Juno to remember. Only Kota, Galen, and Juno were left: Galen still recovering from his encounter with Jesman.

"Made a new friend, I see?" she asked him, curiously.

"Something like that," said Galen, looking confused. "He was very interested in how the Rogue Shadow's computer systems integrated with the rest of the Alliance's systems. I told him I didn't really know, so he started theorising. And...well, he never stopped."

Kota snorted, and Galen glowered at him. Juno smiled, having missed the playful banter between the three of them. However, underneath the jokes she sensed Kota frowning at her curiously, unbeknownst to Galen. She shifted under his glare, and he looked away. Privately, she wondered what he could 'see'. Juno didn't know much about the Jedi, but she had worried that Force-users would be able to sense the changes within her. She suspected that Kota perhaps knew more than he let on.

The old Jedi gave a short cough. "Anyway," Kota said, "I'd better be off. Got some business to attend to. You two look like you need some time alone. I'll see you later." He loped off, leaving Galen and Juno alone together. Galen shook his head.

"Subtle as a rancor in a tapcaf," he muttered. Juno didn't miss the slight smile that appeared on his face, though. She felt the same.

"You're quite fond of him, aren't you?" she smiled, looping an arm through his. Galen shrugged.

"I'm used to having him around. Is that the same thing?"

"Ah. You'd miss him, though."

Galen seemed to contemplate that for a moment. "Yeah. I guess I would."

He frowned, then, and turned to look at her more closely. "So, how do you feel about this mission? It certainly seems a change of pace to what we're used to."

"By 'change of pace', do you mean 'easy'? Because I suspect it'll be more difficult than we think." Juno raised an eyebrow at him.

"No! Well...maybe. A little." He shrugged, looking sheepish. "Perhaps I've just grown accustomed to blowing things up and wreaking havoc."

"Sounds like our first date," grinned Juno. Galen looked indignant.

"Our first d– okay, that bar fight was actually not my fault, for the record. And there was no explosions that time."

"We jumped through a window, Galen."

"Technicalities, Juno."

She smiled and shook her head, her heart feeling a little lighter than it had that morning. For a moment, she could forget about her burdens and secrets she was supposed to tell. It was just her, and Galen, alone for the first time in months.

Stifling a yawn, she leant her head on his shoulder as they made their way back through the chilly corridors.

"Tired?" asked Galen, obviously sensing her thoughts. Juno nodded, seeing no point in denying it.

"You could say that. With everything happening so fast, I don't think I've actually been assigned a cabin, but-"

"Juno." Galen cut across her, raising an eyebrow. "Um. I mean, my cabin is small, but we should be fine. They...they won't mind us sharing, I'm sure…if you don't mind?"

She stopped walking, suddenly, and looked at him. His face was earnest, and she felt her heart tug in her chest. Nodding, she pulled him into a tight embrace, right in the middle of the corridor. For some reason, his words affected her more than she intended. Probably hormones. Damn it. She hoped she wasn't going to cry. Thankfully, Galen said nothing, and said nothing as he stroked her hair gently.

As if he needed to ask if I wanted to, she thought, a grin forming on her otherwise serious features. I'm his, whatever that means.

Eventually, Galen broke away from their embrace, instead offering her his arm. "Come on," he said, "You look like you need rest. I'll show you the way."

As her eyes kept threatening to close, Juno wasn't really in any position to refuse, so she hooked her arm around his again and together they walked through the base, not saying anything, but not particularly needing to, either. They still had many things to discuss, not least the big secret hanging over Juno's head, and the upcoming mission, but right now, everything could wait.

Cipher watched the pair continue their way up the corridor, taking note. They – Cipher – had studied the Rebels closely throughout Princess Leia's meeting, but it was the agent they called Starkiller and his partner Juno that interested them the most. As per the Emperor's orders, of course.

It was evident that Juno was withholding something from Starkiller; that much was obvious. Cipher smiled to themselves. Evidently, this was something that could be exploited – even more so since they had wrangled themselves a place on Leia's expedition. Trust, Cipher noted, was something that had to be earned, but it was something that they had earned in abundance amongst the Rebel Alliance. It was only a shame that the Alliance leaders would never find out who was feeding their precious secrets to the Empire.

Cipher was confident that their cover would not be blown, even in such close quarters as Echo Base. Their documents were impeccably backed up three times over with falsified records in nine different systems – there was no evidence that would incriminate Cipher in anyway. There was a reason that Cipher was one of the Empire's best agents, why the Emperor had personally requested them for this mission. They got the job done, pure and simple.

Cipher decided to do some more digging. Perhaps they would be able to find out what secrets Juno knew. It would provide some helpful ammunition against Starkiller, if they wanted to get him over to the side of the Empire. Although Starkiller claimed not to follow the path of the 'dark side', as the Emperor called it, even Cipher – a non-Force-user – could see that there was still darkness within him. And with the right amount of pressure, Cipher was sure that Starkiller could be turned.

Checking that the coast was clear, Cipher allowed themselves a small smile, before straightening their Rebel uniform and heading back out into the base.