She's a Rebel [Star Wars | Luke Skywalker] *EDITING*

Operation Volta

I bring my binoculars to my eyes and scan the buildings in front of me for any sign of movement. Sweat drips slowly down my brow as I breathe in short, haste breaths, and I try to keep as flat to the ground as possible. 

"See anything?" Alina asks from beside me, and I lower the binoculars from my face. As I do, I brush my hand over the scar I now have on the left side of my face, running up from my jaw to my forehead, the hair on my eyebrow split by it. 

"Not yet," I reply, handing her the binoculars, and she takes a look for herself. 

I watch her for a moment after she brings the binoculars to her eyes. She's grown up so much in the past three years. It's a shame. She had her innocence snatched from her far too young. 

We're lucky we're with the Black Hawks, and I smile at the thought as I look over my shoulder to Ayotunde, Zyana and the two brothers from Anchorhead, Tyler and Peter, who are all sat on rocks and stood with their rifles slung over their shoulders, guarding our exposed backs. 

It's strange, this feeling of comradeship, almost as if we are a family. I've never experienced anything like it before, because we joke together, we eat together, we help each other cope with the constant stress and anxiety of living in a war zone, we fix and clean the ships together, and then we're on the battlefield putting our lives on the line together, and I depend on them and they depend on me. 

My comlink buzzes on my belt, and I adjust my rifle so that I can grab it. I flick a few stray hairs that have escaped from my plait out of my face as I bring the comlink to my mouth. "What's going on, Ground Control?"

"Evan's just sent a transmission from a Star Destroyer," Zach tells me. "They've given the order to move out to Mos Eisley."

"They're getting ready to move out to Mos Eisley," I say loudly, and my squad nod in response. "I take it they're planning on occupying more territory, then?" 

"Pretty much, as if they don't have enough already," I hear Zach snap passive aggressively, and I roll my eyes at his anger. 

"Hey, don't be like that. We've managed to take back quite a lot."

"I know, I know..." He pauses, and we're left in a moment of awkward silence. "What's the situation like there?" he questions.

"Nothing much," I reply, sighing as I glance over to the entrance to Mos Espa. "There's no civilians; just all troops." 

I hear Zach sigh angrily in response. "Three years of losses and careful planning better be worth it."

"Nat, we've got something," Alina says, adjusting herself so that she can get a better look at the building which is being used as one of the Empire's main command posts. "Officers and troops!" she hisses after a moment, lowering her binoculars from her eyes and looking over to me worriedly. 

"We'd better get back," I say, scooting down the rock Alina and I are laying on. 

"Alright guys, you know what that means," Peter announce as I land on the floor. 

Tyler nods at his brother, then me, and then he and the rest of the group head back to the speeders parked behind the rock mesa a few yards north. 

I watch as Alina places the binoculars in their pouch on her belt, and she jumps down from the top of the rock. I half catch her, and help her find her balance, and we head back to Luke's speeder, which by now I've claimed as mine. 

That's not the only thing I've claimed, and I lift my arm and wipe my forehead with the sleeve of my yellow, leather jacket, which proudly adorns my General plaque, medal for my services as a spy, and the symbol of the Black Hawks on one of the sleeves.