Chapter Eight: Regroup

When the Falcon docked at the medical frigate, Luke had been quickly ushered from the ship and away from the sight of the rest of his friends. Anna had been in a meditative state for a long time, and once it was broken, it felt like being rudely awakened after being in a deep sleep. She stood up and stretched her arms out, then walked out of the ship with Leia at her side, as well as Artoo and a newly-repaired C-3P0.

Luke would have his hand reconstructed, and even though Anna wanted to stay with him during his recovery, she knew that Luke was right. She needed to go and finish her training. If she didn't she wouldn't have any chance if she was caught in a battle between the Imperials and the Rebels. The small group walked through the white corridors of the medical frigate before they arrived in the room where Luke was sitting, attended to by the medical droids. Leia pulled herself away from the group for a second so that she could look out the large window with a picturesque setting, looking upon the galaxy. Anna walked over to her, keeping about five feet of distance between both of them. "What are we going to have to do?" she asked the former Princess, keeping her voice calm and low.

"We need to rescue Han," Leia said, looking over her shoulder, inviting Anna to walk a little bit closer. "He's the owner of the Falcon, and is one of the best pilots that the Alliance currently has. Lando and Chewie are going out to look for him." She sighed and dropped her eyes as Anna came to stand by her side. "I wish I could do something more than just wait around here," she continued. "But you don't want to hear of my problems." Anna let herself smile weakly.

"There really isn't any positive feeling right now," she admitted, and glanced over her shoulder to where Luke sat. "You seem a little bit on edge with Han's capture."

"I—" Leia started, but paused. "You weren't there when they froze him in carbonite, but I told him that I loved him, which is true. That's why I look a little bit weak right now, but I'm not always like this. The life of a Rebel is never a positive one."

"Before I met Luke, my life wasn't all that great either," Anna said. "I was constantly running from the Empire."

"What did you do?" Leia asked. "Before this, I mean."

"I usually just flew around, exploring the galaxy," Anna answered. "Occasionally, I was a smuggler, but only so that I could get money."

"Was that why the Empire was after you?" Leia asked.

"No, it was something else, something that I just realized in the past few days," Anna said. "I always thought it was because of that, but they didn't ever seem to target other smugglers. Now that I have been partially trained in the Force, I know what they wanted from me."

"They think that you could be a powerful ally," Leia said, finishing Anna's thought for her. The young girl nodded.

"I always thought it would be something different," she said. "I never wanted to get involved with the war, but now, I feel like I was meant to be a part of it. I'm not going to leave."

Leia nodded. "Well, I thank you, for everything that you've done so far."

"I haven't done much."

"You kept Vader from reaching us back on Cloud City. That little diversion created enough time for us to try and rescue Han from the bounty hunter. We weren't able to, but we still had a better chance."

Anna smiled. "I just did what I felt I should do."

There was silence between them for a few seconds, but when the two droids came walking over to them, all silence was disrupted. Leia sighed and looked over at Threepio and Artoo, who seemed to be caught up in an argument. Anna smiled as Artoo stopped next to her. She hadn't yet been introduced properly to Threepio, but he was already addressing her respectfully.

"Miss Annacaza," he said, and she turned her head to look at him.

"You can just call me Anna," she said with a smile.

"Master Luke is almost ready," the droid said. Anna nodded and glanced down at the floor.

"Thanks Threepio," she said with a smile, looking up at the droid momentarily before shifting her gaze back down to the floor. Artoo beeped at her side, and she lightly placed her hand on the top of his dome. The little droid and her had bonded over their time together on Dagobah, and even though he couldn't talk, there was a way about his communication that was so much more powerful.

Leia moved away from the window and walked behind Anna to where Luke was stationed. Anna stayed where she was, looking out the window, but not looking at anything in particular. She didn't know who Han Solo was, and she wasn't too sure if she should care, but Leia held a great deal of emotion for him, and Anna wanted to support her.

Once again, the thought of returning to train with Yoda entered her mind. She wanted to go back to him, but she didn't want to be stranded incase there was an attack on the Rebels. She had nearly lost Luke once, and she didn't want to lose him again. There was no denying her feelings for him now. She had tried to suppress them, but now she couldn't fight it anymore. She could live her life a lot easier knowing that they were there, never nagging at her, but just constantly tugging at her heart. She didn't know if Luke felt the same way, but she knew that there was a special bond between them, something that she didn't even know to exist.

She heard Luke's voice behind her and she instinctively raised her head. She let her hand trail off of Artoo's dome as she turned to where he was sitting, his right arm lying close to a medical droid, and his left hand clutching something that she couldn't make out directly. She could hear raspy voices coming from it, and she knew that the voices on the other end were those that had stayed in the Millennium Falcon. Luke already looked so much better from when she had last seen him. His presence in the Force was stronger than it had been before the battle with the Sith Lord. He smiled at her as she walked over before quickly averting his gaze back to the device in his left hand.

"…We'll find Han…," Lando's voice came through the device, and Leia smiled. Anna had only heard part of the sentence, but she seemed to have an understanding about what had been said. Leia saw Anna standing on the other side of Luke and moved over to stand beside her. Anna smiled as the former Princess walked over.

"…May the Force be with you," Luke said, and Anna let her gaze fall on him once again. He smiled as Chewie's gentle roars were heard, and looked past the two girls and out the window. Leia too smiled before she turned to go and stand by the window once more.

"How are you feeling?" Anna asked the recovering Jedi.

"All right, I guess," he said. "I probably look a lot better than before."

"You do," she said with a smile. "I'm just glad that you're okay. I thought that you were dead after you jumped."

"Well, I lived," he said. "What happened afterward, with you and Vader?"

"I was able to escape him easily," she answered. "Fired my blaster and then ran. He knows that I'm Force-sensitive."

She closed her eyes at the unwanted memory of his voice. It sent chills through her just to think about it.

"I'll make sure he doesn't come after you," he said, and Anna smiled at him.

"Thank you," she said, and turned around to go stand by Leia once again. As she walked over, she kept her gaze down, still not feeling completely strong as she usually did. The memories of Cloud City would haunt her for a long time, and she doubted that they would ever disappear.

"They're going to go find him," Leia said as Anna approached her.

"They seem to know what they're doing," Anna said, trying to reassure the former Princess. Leia nodded.

"They are, I trust them," she said, and sighed, turning her head as Luke walked over. Anna didn't look at the two of them, not because of jealousy, but because of exhaustion. Her meditative state did not take away the fact that she was still incredibly tired. She would have to make her decision about returning to Yoda after she had rested.

The Falcon flew off from underneath them, heading to an unknown place. She smiled as they flew away. Even though she barely knew who most of these people were, she had confidence that they would rescue Han, and bring him back safely. Until then, she didn't know what she would do. She would decide after a long-needed sleep.

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