Hearts of Rebels | Star Wars Fanfiction

Chapter XVIII

Luke dressed in the orange jumpsuit standard for X-wing pilots in preparation for the evacuation. The medical droid who had tended to his wounds stood by watching him, ensuring the young rebel was ready to go out and fly. Rhea limped into his room, already dressed in her pilot gear and was placing her beat-up commlink back into her belt.

"They spotted an Imperial probe droid on the outskirts of the base. They think it sent a distress signal before Han destroyed it," Rhea informed him. The medical droid took Luke's delay to answer to put his own troubles forth.

"Sir, it will take quite a while to evacuate the tee-forty-sevens,"

"Well, forget the heavy equipment. There's plenty of time to get the smaller modules on the transports," He answered the droid, anxious to get his gear on and get in his speeder.

"Take care, sir," The droid replied, following his programming's proper etiquette.

"Thanks," Luke nodded curtly to the droid. He made sure his belt was secure before walking out the medbay with Rhea.

"You're not flying out with us?" He asked curiously. Once the door behind them slid shut, he offered his arm to her. She draped her's over his neck, and he held onto her back, supporting her weight as they plodded along to the hangars.

"Leia asked me to be one of the pilots who escorts her transport," She tried to hide her disappointment.

She undoubtedly wanted to be out on the front lines with Luke, piloting the speeders against the Empire. But Luke felt a flicker of relief that she'd be out of harm's way, for the most part.

"What about your foot?"

"I don't need a foot to fly an X-wing, Luke," She smiled at him.

He looked skywards from her statement as they entered the main hangar. Pilots, gunners, and R2 units scurried past them, intent on leaving the icy planet as soon as possible.

Luke and Rhea dodged the bustling Rebels as they headed to their next destination, the Millennium Falcon. They both stopped at the rear of the Falcon, where its captain and co-pilot were trying to repair the right lifter hastily. The intimidating Wookiee bellowed a greeting and lumbered over.

"Chewie, take care of yourself, okay?" Luke patted Chewbacca's arm.

Chewbacca roared affectionately and pulled Luke into a hug, almost squeezing the life out of the young rebel. After laughing at Luke's near-fatal encounter with the Wookiee, Rhea turned her attention to the cocky smuggler kneeling atop the ship, currently yelling at a small droid.

"Good luck with that, Han,"

The smuggler's attention withdrew from the frightened droid and down to the young woman.

"Yeah I'll need it" He yelled back down to her. She gave him a wave goodbye, but before she could say farewell to Chewbacca, he called her attention back.

"Hey. You take care of Luke when I'm gone, alright? He's a smart kid, but he doesn't always think things through," He said sensibly for once.

"Sure thing. You just make sure you come back, alright? The Rebellion needs you, Han," He decided to ignore her last statement and go back to yelling at the droid. Rhea turned to the walking carpet behind her, who was patiently waiting for her farewell.

"Goodbye, Chewie. I'll miss you too," She hugged the loveable furry beast, and he barked a sad goodbye in return. "You'll make sure Han doesn't get into too much trouble. Won't you?"

Chewie chuffed with a shrug, everyone in the galaxy knew Han Solo couldn't stay out of trouble, but it was common courtesy for them.

Luke had already left for his speeder, and Leia had finished her briefing with the rest of the pilots. Rhea gazed at the snowspeeder's longingly as they rose from their stations and flew out the hangar in formation. All flown by pilots who were ready to take on whatever the Empire threw at them.

She envied them greatly, missing the cockpit of her own X-wing. It might have been a small enclosed space, but to her, she was right at home amidst the glowing buttons and switches.

The control panel with readouts allowing her to target those dreaded TIE Fighters, the yoke she used to guide her ship to her desired location and the familiar beeps and chirps of her loyal Astromech, R2-K5. But most of all, the feeling of pride and loyalty that flooded her whenever she wore her helmet.

She first felt these invigorating feelings after her first fight, the Battle of Yavin, and they never left her since. Being away so long from her X-wing made her yearn for all those feelings of battle. Even more so as she watched those snowspeeder's fly into the horizon. Rhea was drawn out of her trance as Leia placed a hand on her shoulder.

"The transports are leaving once they're loaded, we're having two fighters escort each ship. We'll have to blast two shots from the ion cannons to get them past the blockade," She recounted her briefing to Rhea.

"This isn't going to be easy,"

"It never is," Leia answered, sharing Rhea's sombre look.

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