Hearts of Rebels | Star Wars Fanfiction

Chapter XI

The two newly recruited Rebels chattered on, sharing stories about events that happened to them on Tatooine.

"Wow, the Sand People sure didn't like you," Rhea laughed once Luke finished explaining why she had found him unconscious on Tatooine.

"I can't wait to tell Biggs about this! If he even made it here," The two had also discovered that they shared a friend, Biggs Darklighter, both had even made plans to join the Rebellion with him.

"He always mentioned knowing a better pilot than me, but he refused to tell me who. I wanted to show you up for years, Luke. I was extremely jealous,"

They stopped talking as Officers, Commanders and a few Senators accompanied by Leia entered the room. A hush fell upon the rest of the rebel pilots once the lights dimmed. A readout then appeared on the electronic wall, illuminating the Commander as he addressed the room.

"The battle station is heavily shielded and carries a firepower greater than half the star fleet. Its defences are designed around a direct large-scale assault. A small one-man fighter should be able to penetrate the outer defence-"

"Pardon me for asking, sir, but what good are snub fighters going to be against that?" A random rebel pilot inquired from within the crowd.

"Well, the Empire doesn't consider a small one-man fighter to be any threat, or they'd have a tighter defence. An analysis of the plans provided by Princess Leia has demonstrated a weakness in the battle station,"

A hologram of the Battle Station appeared around the table the pilots sat around. He played a demonstration of their attack.

"The approach will not be easy. You are required to manoeuvre straight down this trench and skim the surface to this point. The target area is only two meters wide. It's a small thermal exhaust port, right below the main port. The shaft leads directly to the reactor system. A precise hit will start a chain reaction which should destroy the station. Only a precise hit will set up a chain reaction. The shaft is ray shielded, so you'll have to use proton torpedoes,"

"That's impossible, even for a computer!" A hotshot pilot, around sixteen years, objected. Murmurs of disbelief started to spread through the room, which the commander obviously didn't appreciate.

"It's not impossible. I used to bulls-eye womp rats in my T-sixteen back home. They're not much bigger than two meters," Luke proclaimed.

"Man your ships! And may the force be with you," The commander concluded. All the pilots eventually shuffled out the conference room, splitting up as they entered the hangar bay.

"All flight troops, man your stations. All flight troops, man your stations," A voice echoed in the bay.

Rhea headed for her ship but saw they were still refilling the fuel tank, so she headed back searching for Luke. A man shoved past her angrily, she didn't realise it was Luke until she looked at the pilot. She turned back around and saw Han a few yards from her.

"What happened?" She asked once she stood beside him. Han waved her off grumbling as he handed the last crate to Chewbacca. She furrowed her brows and read the writing on the crate.

"You got your money" She observed.

"Yeah, that's right," He answered, refusing to look at her.

"Are you leaving?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I am. You got a problem too?" He snapped back. She frowned, not appreciating his lip. She glanced at Luke, who was talking to a technician atop his starfighter. She sighed and looked back to Han.

"We've been through a lot together already. You're really just gonna get up and leave like that?" Her voice wavered a bit. The smuggler had grown on her during their adventure together, despite his arrogance and cocky ways.

"Listen, Rhea. We had a good run together. But I'm not flying head-on into that space station again,"

"But you are a good pilot Han we could use you. You know what we're up against who knows if any of us will come back," She pleaded. Han didn't waste a moment before replying as if he had done this already.

"That's exactly why I'm not going, what goods a reward if you ain't around to use it, sister,"

She shot him a frustrated look.

"At least think about it,"

He remained emotionless as she walked away from him, disappointed. He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to ignore his gut feelings. Han was a smuggler, not a war hero. So why did he feel so conflicted about it?

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