chapter one

A YOUNG BRUNETTE WOMAN sat amongst the stars, staring blankly at the cyan steaks out the starship window while sailing through light speed. She was hyper aware of the blaster that lay across her thigh, a deep void-like feeling settling in her stomach to match the dark thoughts that came with the weapon. She couldn't wait to unleash it from its holster, let out its true glory against the Empire. They took everything from her; her family, her home, her joy, her hope. She wouldn't let them take her vengeance too. 

Yet despite her dark thoughts, the woman sat stoically in the starship lounge. Vulnerability was a risk she could not afford to take. Even amongst her people, the warriors who would die for her to have one extra breath, couldn't see her as anything other than a leader. That wouldn't happen. She was a commander, a symbol of hope. She may have lost her own hope, but she wouldn't dare take it away from anyone else. The Empire did that just fine on their own.

That's why she found herself numb after receiving the news after the Battle of Scarif.

It wasn't that she didn't care, no, but rather that it wasn't the first (and certainly not the last) loss that would occur for the sake of the rebellion. The news felt no different than any other battle she was forced to endure. At seventeen years old, the woman probably would have wept, the pain coursing through her body like a poison she couldn't bear to swallow, the toxic tendrils of darkness yanking at her heart until it finally burst. At twenty years old, however, the woman did not have that luxury. She had a mission to complete.

"Amora?"

The woman glanced over to meet the eyes of the princess that sat across the lounge from her. She had seen those eyes a million times before, the eyes of a leader with no opportunity to grieve. It felt like a mirror. She didn't bother to correct the princess on the use of her name rather than her formal title. Amora seemed to be the only one to care about formalities anymore.

"Princess?" Amora questioned.

"We are drawing near the outer rim of Tatooine. It's time."

Amora stared back at Leia for a moment, not fully registering the words. It's time. Time to enter, quite possibly, the most dangerous mission of her career. The entire Empire would be searching for these plans, for them. But a leader had absolutely no time for fear, only for action. Her job was to accompany the princess to Tatooine and back to Alderaan. She was the protection. And that's exactly what she intended to do.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?"

Amora hoisted herself up from one of the ruby red sofas, quite possibly the most comfortable she's been in a year. Princess Leia did the same, taking the lead in front of Amora to guide them through the pristine white halls and to the command room. The ship crew had thought it would be best to keep the two women away from all the stress of the command room. They claimed that the bustle would only make them more on edge for the mission. Amora had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes, as if that would make a difference, but she followed orders anyways. It felt good to defy them now and enter the command room, like a toddler stealing a cookie after bedtime.

Amora pulled her green army jacket tighter around her frame as she stepped past Leia into the command room. Jutting her chin up, her eyebrows scrunched in confusion as she surveyed the room. It was chaos. Rebels scrambled everywhere, seeming to do everything and nothing at the same time. Panic was evident throughout the room. It stretched out to Amora and begged for attention. It only took her four seconds of hesitation to jump into action.

She quickly scanned faces rushing by until she could find someone of importance, someone who didn't gush fear and dread. She almost instantly located a nearby commander.

"Captain Antilles!"

His head snapped over to her direction at the sound of her voice, eyes hurriedly running over faces until finding hers. He rushed over to the young commander, Amora pulling Leia's arm to meet him halfway.

"You two need to hide," he instantly spat out. "The Empire has found us. They know we have the plans, we're not safe!"

No, no, no, Amora thought bitterly. We can't lose anymore lives for nothing, we can't keep dying for nothing-

"I know what to do," Leia's voice interrupted her thoughts. She pulled Amora away from the chaos and out of the room.

"Where is that blue R2 unit? He's on the ship, I know it." Leia questioned swiftly.

Amora's eyes widened and she sucked in a quick breath. "He was left in the weapon systems control room. Hurry!"

As the two women ran through the halls of the second deck, rebels flew past them in an attempt to guard the ship and wipe it clean of rebellion information. Amora pushed ahead of Leia, peeking into every room just in case he wandered off. She peered into the emergency repairs facility and almost left, before noticing a glimmer of cobalt from the corner of the room. She gasped and stepped fully into the room.

"Artoo!"

The small droid beeped and inched forward slightly in response. Amora kneeled down to his level and stroked his top softly as if he was a creature.

"Artoo, buddy, you need to come with me right now," she whispered to the droid.

With that, Amora ducked out of the room, only glancing backwards once to make sure Artoo was following her.

"Princess! Princess! I found him! Where are you? Ah!" She accidentally tumbled into someone as they both rounded the corner. Amora's hand quickly went to her blaster holster on instinct, ready to attack a trooper at a moment's notice.

"Amora, you can't just attack a princess like that!" Leia playfully scolded.

Amora rolled her eyes as Artoo came beeping around the corner as well. "And here I thought you weren't a damsel in distress," she smirked over at Leia.

Leia quickly became serious and looked Amora in the eye. "I need to record a message for Obi-Wan Kenobi. This droid will be dropped out of this ship in an escape pod with the plans, and you're going with them. I will stay on the ship."

Amora remained composed as she nodded. "Do it quickly, we don't have much time."

As Leia got to work, Amora whipped out her blaster and stood protectively near her, guarding against any troopers that could have broken through the remaining rebels. The truth was, Amora didn't want to leave the ship without Leia. They weren't close, no, just acquaintances at best, but Leia was an important symbol to the rebellion that needed to be protected. It didn't seem fair of her to flee the ship while the princess got captured. But Amora knew it had to be done. With Leia still aboard, they could possibly trick the Empire into believing that they have the wrong ship. She had to stay aboard. Meanwhile, Amora needed to accompany the droids to ensure that they actually reached Obi-Wan. It pained her to leave, but it was her job. She would complete her mission before sparing her emotions.

As she surveyed the hall, a glint of gold caused her to aim her blaster defensively, eyes narrowing. Before she could shoot, the rest of the gold body appeared, identifying himself as a protocol droid. Amora huffed softly and glanced down at Leia. She was kneeled down over Artoo, seeming to put the plans in his memory.

"Princess, c'mon, we definitely don't have much time." Amora whispered.

Leia stood up and peered down the hall, also noticing the golden protocol droid who waited for Artoo. She looked back at Amora and nodded at her in respect.

"Commander Everbright, I trust you to deliver these droids safely to Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine and accompany them back to Alderaan." Leia whispered to Amora with a hint of a smile.

Amora smiled back gratefully. "I'll protect them with my life."

Leia gave her one last sincere look before disappearing down a side hallway. Amora turned back towards Artoo to see him already gliding down the hallway towards the golden protocol droid. She quietly sighed before jogging up behind Artoo.

"At last! Where have you been?" the gold droid exclaimed pointedly at Artoo.

He beeped back defensively.

"They're heading in this direction!"

Amora's head snapped over to the gold droid at that comment. She didn't listen to Artoo's beeping, they needed to get out of there. She spun around in place, searching for a sign or any way to figure out where the escape pods were located.

"What are we going to do? They'll send us to the spice mines of Kessel, or smashed into who knows what!" the gold droid panicked.

"We need to get to the escape pods now," she said, getting straight to the point. Artoo seemed to know where they were, because he spun on his heel and headed down the hallway.

"Wait a minute, where are you going?" the gold droid questioned. Amora groaned at the droid's annoying nature. She didn't understand how a droid could even be jittery

"C'mon Goldie-Locks," Amora told the droid as she followed Artoo down the hall. After a moment of silence, she heard the pattering noise of the gold droid following tightly behind her.

"Why, my name is See-Threepio, hu-"

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Goldie-Locks! I'm Amora. Pick up the pace, will ya?"

"I'm afraid I don't understand-"

"He found 'em!"

Amora slowed down behind Artoo as he stopped at a door in the hallway. Threepio skidded to a stop a few moments later, still confused on their escape plan.

"Hey! You're not permitted in there! It's restricted! You'll be deactivated for sure!"

Artoo blatantly ignored Threepio, sticking one of his many appendages into the door and opened it up. Artoo then beeped a snarky insult at his friend, causing Amora to snort in amusement. She smiled softly as she brought her hand to her face to cover her laughter. Threepio, however, did not find it so funny.

"Don't call me a mindless philosopher, you overweight glob of grease!" he exclaimed angrily. "Now come out here before somebody sees you!"

Artoo still didn't listen. He pushed himself forward into the escape pod, beeping about their mission on Tatooine.

"Secret mission? What plans? What are you talking about? I'm not getting in there!"

Amora ducked into the escape pod right as a laser blasted inches away from Threepio.

"Goldie-Locks, if you don't get in here right now, we'll leave you here for the stormtroopers to take care of!"

Amora could almost see the conflict in his bright, soulless eyes as he leaned down into the escape pod.

"I'm going to regret this!"

The pod's hatch sealed immediately after Threepio entered, and the trio was on their way. Amora wasted no time in preparing the two droids for Tatooine.

"Alright," Amora started professionally, digging through the pockets of her brown cargo pants. "I have these tracking devices that I need to pin on you guys in case we get separated down there."

"Separated? Whatever do you mean? Oh, I knew this wasn't safe!" Threepio cried out.

"No, no, no, it's just a precaution. Oh! Here they are!" Amora scooted over to Artoo's side of the pod, where he pushed out one of his compartments for the small tracker. She placed it in the compartment before maneuvering to Threepio's side.

"We'll most likely stay together, but-"

Amora was cut off by a loud explosion shooting out from the star destroyer they escaped from, heading in their direction. She barely had time to react before it shot right by them, hardly missing.

They probably detected my life form on board, Amora realized in horror.

Artoo frantically beeped as Amora handed the tracking device off to Threepio.

"That's right Artoo, they know we have the plans." Amora breathed out.

The pod quickly rose in temperature and she realized they were entering Tatooine's atmosphere. Her heart slammed against her chest.

This could be the end of her life.

"Artoo!" Amora yelled against the increasing noise of their drop. "No matter what, get to Obi-Wan!"

They made impact not a second later, Amora's line of vision went dark.

~  ☼  ~

author's note -

hey! so this is my first chapter! i hope it's good! i would really appreciate any feedback you have because this is my first book. i'm not quite sure what people like or don't like or what's cliche and what's not... i'm just writing what i like. so any advice would be great! i would also really really appreciate a vote or comment! i can't tell if anyone is actually reading or not, so please let me know if you are! thank you for reading! :)