Audio reading available for Chapters 8-12 on YouTube:

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Chapter 8

- - - - - 3 ABY - - - - -

- - - - - Rebellion Echo Base on Planet Hoth - - - - -

Never in her eleven years of life had Tess imagined she could be a hero of the Rebellion. Three years later, even more beyond her belief, at fourteen years old she was among the Rebellion on a remote base on the planet Hoth. That being addressed, it seemed far beneath her capabilities to constantly be the one to lead Han Solo to Leia Organa whenever their complicated relationship resulted in a grown-up game of hide-and-seek.

"She was in the command center, but last time she saw you coming she ducked into the storage room," Tess told Han. She held out her hand expectantly. "Five credits, please." Han gave her a look, then reluctantly pulled some credits out of his pocket and shoveled them into the teenager's hand.

Han stalked around the corner. Once he was far enough away, Tess pulled out her comlink.

"Leia?" she said. She got a response immediately.

"Han again?" asked her friend's voice.

"Yep. Go for the barracks. He knows about the storage room."

Tired with watching Han and Leia's disgusting love games and with no room in her pocket to squeeze more credits out of Han, Tess cut through the cargo transfer into the hangar where she knew she would find Luke.

It was hard to pick out her friend among the other rebels with identical snowsuits, but she recognized Luke as the only one with a lightsaber in his belt.

"Are you going out there?" she inquired, tentatively approaching his tauntaun and giving its neck a rub.

"Yep, checking for life readings," Luke told Tess, putting on his goggles. Tess hopped up on the tauntaun with ease, having practiced many a time these past several months. Her thick red snowsuit padded her from feeling the coarse skin of the animal. "Have you seen Han? He was supposed to be heading out, too."

"Nope, but I'll find him for five credits," Tess promised with a sly grin. Luke grinned back at her, clearly knowing her ways. He couldn't blame her, though—there was not much for a kid to do on a rebel base.

"Do you know why tauntauns smell so bad?" Tess asked. She promptly answered her own question. "They get rid of waste through their skin. Like our sweat, but theirs is just worse."

"Somebody's been spending some time on the informational holographics in the command center," Luke mused. He lifted Tess of his tauntaun with ease and took her place.

"Leia made me," Tess admitted. "Can I go with you? Checking for life readings doesn't last that long and you don't even go that far. Please?"

"I don't think Leia would like that," Luke told her, shaking his head. Tess rolled her eyes.

"She's not my mother," Tess reminded the man who she had come to think of as an older brother. "I was a rebel hero at the Battle of Yavin, too, just like you, Han, Chewie, and Leia. But somehow the fact that I'm fourteen makes my tagging along with the rebellion a babysitting gig. I haven't been a child for a long time, Luke."

Luke narrowed his eyes at her.

"Says the girl who spends all day messing with Han and Leia's heads, making those two go crazier than they already are."

"They just make it so easy…" Tess sighed, chuckling a bit.

"It's all about control," Luke reminded her. Tess went to a nearby tauntaun and gave it a piece of an omnibar from her pocket.

"Don't speak Jedi with me, Skywalker," she boomed with an exaggerated deep voice. Luke shook his head with a laugh.

"I'll be back soon," he assured Tess. "And go easy on Leia. She cares about you, Tess. She just wants you to stay safe."

Han left later than Luke, so it surprised Tess when the smuggler arrived sooner than her other friend. She had her nose pinched shut with one hand as she bathed a small tauntaun with the other.

"Did you see Luke when you were out there?" Tess asked. Han pulled his mask, gloves, and hood off.

"Talked to him," Han told her. "He hasn't come back yet?"

"No," Tess informed Han. "Leia kept trying to reach him. He always signs in, so the fact that his name isn't on there means he's not back. Besides, with you and Leia always hiding from each other, I know every place of this—"

"Watch it, kid," Han snapped, not entirely serious. Tess could tell he wasn't one for the cold, which just made his bickering with Leia all the more entertaining.

"Tess, put your hood back on before your ears turn blue and fall off," came a familiar voice from behind them. Tess didn't even need to turn around to know that it was Leia. She approached the two of them, her dark hair in a perfect braid crown around her head and her snowsuit matching the snow itself.

Tess, however, wore her hair in a small, loose braid pulling half of her hair back and cascading down with the wavy loose hair. That, and her red snowsuit stood out among the whites and tans. She always insisted on being quite the individual, but according to Leia that just made her more childish.

There was a time when Tess admired Leia more than anyone. She was a Princess, and the daughter of the closest thing Tess ever had to a father. That admiration was not completely gone, but after spending three years with her—though Tess was grateful for a place to stay with the closest thing she had to family—Leia had somehow convinced herself that Tess needed parenting.

Sure, Tess had not grown up as royalty with the highest levels of education that Alderaan could offer, but she was fourteen years old and more than capable of taking care of herself.

Still, if anything, Leia was more like a big sister to Tess deep down. She did love Leia like a sister and she was sure Leia felt the same, but they did get on each other's nerves. Most of the newer rebels even confused them as sisters. The resemblance between them was bafflingly strong for two who were not related. Even Tess could see that.

Suddenly, the time of day struck fear in Tess' stomach.

"Leia, its almost nighttime," Tess said worriedly. "The temperature's about to drop like crazy and the shield doors won't even be up for much longer."

"I know," Leia sighed, putting a hand on the collar of Tess' snowsuit and rubbing her shoulder. "But you know Luke, he's just curious. He'll come in at the last minute perfectly fine."

Han started replacing his snow gear.

"I'm going out to check the perimeter just in case," he decided aloud.

"Han, your tauntaun will freeze at the temperatures it will be out there an hour from now," Leia reminded him nervously. "And we can't send rescues after the shield doors close."

"I'll be back with Luke or not at all," Han promised. He kicked the sides of his tauntaun and was soon lost in the white snow.

"Somehow I don't find that comforting!" Leia called after him. She sighed deeply and turned to Tess. "You hungry?" she asked. Tess shook her head. Leia took the girl by the shoulders and started leading her towards the barracks. "It's gonna be cold here soon—you should probably head off to bed."

"I will," Tess said with a nod, compliantly making her way towards the barracks. "Goodnight."

"Night," Leia called back with a soft smile. She made her way back to the command center.

However, as soon as Leia was gone, Tess swung her pack on, hopped on a tauntaun, and raced after Han in hopes of helping him find Luke.