Audio reading for Chapters 31-38 available on YouTube:

watch?v=OmxDhCWaFfA

- - - - - One Month Later - - - - -

- - - - - Rebel Ship in the Moddell Sector - - - - -

Leia Organa helped Tess Naberrie pull her long, dark hair back into a swirl of braids.

"Ow," Tess winced as her sister accidentally tugged the sensitive hairs at her neck. Leia ignored her.

"There you go," the princess said, plopping Tess' brown helmet on top of the braids and giving it a few knocks just to mess with her. Tess fastened the straps under her chin and rolled her head uncomfortably.

"I hate these things," she confessed. Leia nodded in agreement, adjusting her own helmet before leaving the room to make other pre-battle preparations—notably making out with Han in the supply closet.

Tess looked around at the other rebels, pulling their gear out of storage lockers and preparing for Endor. She felt their eyes on her every once in a while, and every whisper was no doubt a jab at the bitchy Alderaanian Princess and the teenage girl she dragged along.

"I still have no idea why Princess Leia drags that kid around this…I mean I've heard Tess was family or something, but if that were true its nothing to be ashamed of, so you'd think the princess would make that clear, right?"

"I hear Tess is her daughter," another suggested in a hushed whisper. "The princess hated being cooped up in a palace and got all rebellious when she was like 13, then went out and got herself pregnant."

"You're an idiot, the princess is 23 and the kid's 14."

"Maybe she was even younger, then!"

The fourteen-year-old tried to ignore them. While it bothered Tess considerably when they underestimated her, any simple poking fun behind her back was nothing. When they talked about Leia, on the other hand, Tess grew hot with anger. If they only knew the kind of person Leia was—the sacrifices she had made for the rebellion—they would be bowing at her feet.

"I don't trust this Princess," a woman behind her muttered. "I heard she's the reason Alderaan blew up."

That comment put Tess' blood on high boil.

The Alderaanian pushed her feet under her and stepped over one bench so that she was right behind the woman who made that comment.

"What did you say?" Tess muttered darkly.

The woman turned around, her frizzy blonde hair hanging around her ears. She chuckled at the sight of the teenager.

"Lost your babysitter, kid?"

Tess took a deep breath before repeating her question.

"What. Did. You. Say."

Apparently amused by Tess' seriousness, the woman rose to her feet, her height looming over the younger rebel.

"I said," the woman articulated. "She's the reason Alderaan blew up. Guess daddy didn't give her a big enough allowance."

Anger taking over completely, Tess thrust her fist up and connected with the frizzy-haired woman's face. A collective gasp and a varied array of murmurs filled the armor locker room. The woman fell back against a storage locker and Tess lunged towards her. Before she could deliver another blow, a man caught her around the waist and Tess' own speed had inertia sending her sprawling to the ground.

Tess shuffled to her feet, the voices of the other rebels flooding over each other.

"Guys, she's a kid, calm down!"

"What did she do?!"

"Hold her back—she's crazy!"

"What are you doing?!"

"This is ridiculous! Stop it!"

Before Tess could get to the frizzy-haired woman again, a man pulled her arm behind her back, practically immobilizing her.

"This isn't fucking school, kid," the man boomed over the roar or the rest of the rebels. "You can't just go around punching people you don't like. We're a team. We're fighting a war here."

The fourteen-year-old had been through enough combat training with Luke and Leia to know that trying to get out of that particularly restraining hold would get her nothing but a dislocated shoulder. The crowd suddenly parted and Tess saw the frizzy-haired woman open a locker across the room.

"She wants to act like we're in school?" the woman said. "We can play along."

Han watched as a couple dozen rebels filed out of the armor storage locker room. Leia was busy with other preparations and he needed to communicate to Tess what group they would be leaving with before the flood of rebels all dispersed and you couldn't find anyone unless they were wearing bright yellow.

After what appeared to be the last of the rebels exited the room, Han furrowed his brows in confusion. He pulled a blonde woman aside.

"Have you seen Tess? You know, the kid?" She shook her head.

Han knew Tess hated to be called that, but if a rebel didn't know Tess by name, they sure as hell realized that one particular rebel was a foot shorted than the rest and looked like she was ten years old.

Before he turned around to check for the kid somewhere else, Han heard something from the storage locker room—like the clanging of metal. He walked inside.

The room seemed empty at first, but then something caught the former smuggler's eye.

One of the storage lockers was moving. The handle tremored slightly as he heard mechanical twists and turns coming from inside it. His heart pounded out of pure uncertainty. What was that?

Then suddenly, the handle rose and the locker door swung open, sending Han several steps backwards with a gasp. Tess tumbled out.

"What the—Tess?" Han stammered. He still hadn't quite caught his breath. "What were you doing in there?"

Tess glared at him as if to tell him not to ask, but he didn't need to. He could see it all over the girl's face. This past month she had been especially quick to anger and he heard she had been in some quarrels with some of the other rebels. He could understand why she might get some teasing from the others—she was the youngest rebel and that gave them the impression that their rank in the rebellion means nothing when its shared with a 14-year-old girl—but that didn't mean Han liked it.

"You didn't see that," Tess told Han sternly, gesturing towards the locker.

"Didn't Luke and Leia decide on a Force break?" Han asked. Tess glared at him.

"Would you rather I stay in a locker while you guys get to deactivate the shield generator without me?" the teenager retorted. "These were special circumstances. You don't need to go running to your girlfriend telling her that her sister's a Jedi again."

Tess pushed past Han, but he caught her gently by the arm.

"Hey—" he halted, turning the kid around to make sure she was looking at him. He didn't mention it, but he could see tear stains down her cheeks. "Are you alright?"

Tess' angry glare softened and her breathing calmed. She nodded slowly. Han nodded back.

"Good," he said simply. He squeezed her shoulder a bit and led her out of the armor storage locker room.