chapter ten

THE FLOOR OF THE Millennium Falcon started shaking beneath Amora just as her and Luke entered the ship's main corridor. They were taking off as quick as they could, not bothering to wait for the boarding ramp to draw up. She let go of Luke's arm to close the door behind them, leaning up against the wall afterwards.

Amora didn't know what to feel. Heartbroken? Depressed? Angry? None of those felt right. She just felt empty. Like she should be feeling pain, but it just didn't reach her.

It's not like I've lost a part of myself, she tried to justify.

And that was true. She hadn't seen Obi-Wan in years. He held no impact in her life. He wasn't her light in the darkness. He was just a man that watched her grow up. His absence changed nothing in her life so far. So why should now be any different?

She took a deep breath and looked down the corridor. Luke was already gone, retreated into the main hold, and she decided to follow. She pushed herself off the wall headed into the room with shaky legs.

When she arrived, she saw Luke hunched over the lounge table, staring blankly at nothing. A blanket was draped over his shoulders, probably done by Leia, who sat behind him in a comforting fashion.

Amora couldn't help but admire Leia's strength. She was the princess of Alderaan, also known as the planet that was blown up only hours ago. Her home, her friends, her family, all gone. Her life was ripped away from her and destroyed to the tune of malicious laughter. And yet here she was, comforting a boy she just met because he was feeling down. Leia was the embodiment of what a leader should be.

Luke looked up at Amora, clearly still torn over what happened. He was innocent, far too innocent, for the galaxy they lived in. The past twenty-four hours were probably filled with the most death he'd ever seen in his life. And because of that, Amora took a page out of Leia's book, and smiled.

It felt odd. She wasn't feeling too cheerful. To be honest, the last thing she wanted to do was smile. But someone like Luke needed it.

If it was any random rebel feeling down about their losses, she would probably ignore them. They knew what they signed up for. Death was abundant. She would help if she could, but wouldn't waste her energy on consoling someone who had to get through it on their own. She had her own things to do.

But Luke didn't know what he'd signed up for. Living in his own little bubble until now, he was protected from reality by his own hopes and dreams. The idea of the rebellion seemed heavenly, like a vacation with your friends, just flying through space. But now he faced the hard truth of their cause before even stepping foot onto the base. And with that truth, you sometimes just need a friend, even if that friend was someone you met only hours ago.

He managed half a smile back at Amora before diverting his eyes.

The pounding of footsteps was heard as Han ran out from the cockpit, rounding the corner into the main hold. He looked over at Luke.

"C'mon buddy, we're not out of this yet."

He then raced away from them, probably heading to the heavy laser turrets.

Luke and Leia stood up to head to different parts of the ship as Amora turned into the cockpit. She took a seat next to Chewbacca who gave her a growl of approval... at least that's what she thought. Leia came in a few moments behind her and stood between their seats.

"You in, kid?" Han's voice was heard from the intercom, speaking to Luke. "Okay, stay sharp."

Amora stared out the window in front of her. She could hear the sounds of nearby TIE fighters, but couldn't see them anywhere. The ship shook violently like it would fall apart any minute. Finally, in the distance, a squad of four fighters was made out. They were getting closer  and closer by the second.

"Here they come!" Leia spoke into the intercom to the boys.

The fighters then split, heading in four different directions, disappearing from Amora's view. It didn't take long for the fighters to attack, however. Lasers battered the sides of the ship, causing the power to dip in and out of working-condition.

She clutched the sides of her seat as Chewbacca took a particularly sharp turn. She wasn't enjoying this at all. Flying was not her thing, especially not fighting while flying.

"They're coming in too fast!" Luke yelled into the intercom, voice crackling from the poor connection.

Amora leaned forward. "You can still get a hit at this speed!" she advised. "They're not as stealthy as you think!"

The Falcon took another large dip that made her stomach drop. She gasped lightly at the sudden movement and then took a deep breath.

Not too much longer of this, she tried to reassure herself.

Suddenly, a red flashing light on the control panel caught her attention. She wasn't too familiar with this ship model, so she struggled to understand all the controls, but she had a basic understanding as to what it could mean.

"Chewbacca, is that the deflector shield?" she asked, pointing at the flashing.

The Wookiee roared with a nod, trying to keep his eyes on the window.

With that, Amora silently slipped out of her seat to scan the walls of the cockpit. Leia took her newly-open spot and reported back to the boys.

"We've lost the lateral controls!" she informed.

"Don't worry!" Han insisted. "She'll hold together."

That doesn't sound believable, Amora thought as she found the wiring she was looking for. It was a bit of a tangled mess, including some wires that didn't even belong. But it appeared manageable.

The deflector shield generator was actually on the far side of the ship, but the technology connected to the cockpit for quick and easy access, similar to other systems on the ship. This wasn't too big of a problem, so it should be fixable from here.

She noticed a red wire cutting through the mess that was diverting the power distribution. Holding out her finger, she traced the path of the wire to find out what it was connected to. Luckily, it was only connected to the tractor beam projector.

Hopefully they didn't need that...

"Haha!" she heard Han's laugh boom out from the intercom.

"One down!" Leia clarified for Amora, who sighed in relief as she searched around for a pair of diagonal pliers.

"Got him! I got him!" she heard Luke's voice almost immediately after. She couldn't stop herself from smiling at his enthusiasm.

"Great, kid! Don't get cocky!" Han replied.

She spotted a pair of the pliers resting in a holder on the wall, which she quickly grabbed at. Holding the pliers steady at the red wire, she snapped them shut, sparks flying out of the hole in the wall. She instantly cringed at her actions, making major changes on someone else's ship, even though they were necessary.

He can fix that later... right?

"There's still two more of them out there!" Leia shouted.

Amora put the pliers back and scanned the control panel for the red light. Fortunately, it was no longer flashing. She inhaled with satisfaction as she moved to take Leia's former spot in between the seats.

One TIE fighter zoomed into the view of the cockpit. It flew far away, only to rotate back around for an attack run. But before it could fire, it exploded in a cloud of sparks.

Only one left.

The last TIE fighter must've been behind the ship, because Amora couldn't see it or hear it. If she didn't know any better, she would've thought there were only three to begin with.

The three waited in a tense silence for any news from the boys. And suddenly, the intercom crackled to life.

"That's it, we did it!" Luke cheered. She laughed with glee at his words, feeling a wave of relief wash over her.

"We did it!" Leia cried out, reaching over to pull Amora and Chewbacca into a group hug.

Amora normally would've been taken aback by the contact, but she was far too happy to care. She hugged the two back tightly, relishing in the contagious joy in the room.

They released from their hug, all smiling brightly. Chewbacca roared happily.

"Me too, buddy," Amora said to him, but not entirely sure what she was agreeing to. "Glad that's over."

She looked over at Leia who, for once, looked relaxed. Their temporary safety was rather relaxing.

"I should go check on Artoo," she commented while turning around to exit the cockpit. Han was entering at the same time.

"Nice work, Solo," she said with a nod of respect. He nodded back at her. That was quite possibly their first interaction with no snarky comments.

Walking out of the cockpit, she searched the main hold for Artoo. But all she found was Luke facing away from her as he assisted Threepio, who was sprawled on the floor covered in wires. She wondered how he could have possibly ended up like that, but ignored it, and instead stifled a laugh at the sight.

"Where'd you learn how to shoot like that?" she broke the silence in the room.

"Ah!" Luke jumped in surprise at her voice, accidentally hitting his head on a metal bar above him. Amora leaned up against the wall in amusement with a smirk.

"Ow," he muttered, his hand flying to his head to rub the painful spot. He turned to her coyly, faced flushed red from embarrassment.

She raised her eyebrow at him expectantly.

"Uh, wait, what?" he awkwardly asked.

"I asked how you're such a good shot," she laughed as she approached the lounge to take a seat.

"Oh, uh, Tatooine wasn't totally useless," he replied, still blushing, but this time because of the compliment.

"Well, either way, you're good," Amora continued. "The rebellion will be lucky to have you."

If possible, Luke became even redder, unsure of how to respond to her words.

"Well, I-"

"Oh, pardon me, Master Luke, but I'm still stuck!" Threepio interrupted, flailing slightly from the ground.

Luke sighed, but Amora waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it, I got it."

She pushed herself up from the seat and approached Threepio before he could protest.

"You might wanna check on Han and Leia, you know, make sure they haven't killed each other yet?" she suggested.

Luke looked a little frustrated that she cut their conversation short before he could even say anything meaningful, but listened to her anyways. He silently retreated into the cockpit while Amora kneeled down to Threepio.

"It's so nice of you to help, Mistress Amora!" he exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Yeah, well, I don't really have a choice," she admitted as she removed the last of the wires from his body. "Is Artoo alright?"

"Oh, yes," he confirmed. "I'm not quite sure where he is at the moment, but he's alright."

Amora picked up his golden body up from the floor and set him straight. "And you?"

"I've certainly been better, but I'm doing quite well, thank you!"

She patted his shoulder affectionately. "Hey, do you think you can find Artoo for me?"

"Of course, Mistress Amora," he replied, walking off in the direction of the crew quarters.

With that, she sighed and collapsed onto a lounge seat. The exhaustion of the day was taking a toll on her. All she wanted to do was return to the base, where she could go back to her normal duties. She could forget about this mission and Obi-Wan's death. She could pretend like it didn't happen.

All of a sudden, a stomping noise was heard from the cockpit. Amora glanced up to see Leia storming out, obviously annoyed by whatever happened moments ago.

"Princess?" she called out curiously.

Leia turned to the girl with a fierce glare, but softened when she realized who it was. She pointed her thumb back at the cockpit with a shake of her head.

"He is unbearable."

Amora raised her eyebrow in amusement and leaned back in her seat. "Who?" she asked, although she already knew the answer.

Leia joined her at the table, sitting down with a big huff. "The cocky pilot," she replied bitterly.

Amora let out a dry laugh. "Oh, Han is something, alright. You were probably better off on the Death Star than dealing with him now."

Leia smiled at her words, but they ultimately settled into a stiff silence. They both stared down at the table in front of them, perfectly aware of the elephants in the room, but not wanting to address them. But the silence soon became too awkward to ignore.

"Princess, you... you know about Alderaan..., right?"

She watched Leia inhale slowly, letting the words settle in. Her posture grew stiff at those words.

"Yes," Leia started slowly, meeting the girl's eyes. "They destroyed it when I refused to give up the location of our base."

Amora looked on at her with pity, not knowing how else to respond. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, to comfort her, but Leia silenced her with the wave of her hand.

"There's nothing we could've done," she dismissed, obviously trying to bury her true feelings underneath her leadership. "Those lives lost will help us save countless more. We must keep moving forward."

Amora just stared at Leia in sympathy. She understood her conflict. She had heard those words a million times before, except they usually came from her own mouth. The words were absurd, yes, but they were also hard to shake. When you've taught yourself from a young age that vulnerability is a weakness, you carry it with you everywhere.

She didn't know Leia very well, but she already understood her on a level deeper than most. They were more similar than they realized.

"We're coming in on the base," Han yelled to the group from the cockpit before Amora could respond to Leia. "They better not shoot us down!"

Amora rolled her eyes. "I doubt they'd see this ship as a threat." she mumbled.

Her and Leia got up from their seats and headed into the cockpit to admire the view.

They seemed to have already entered the moon's atmosphere, revealed by the endless sea of jungle beneath them. The sky was a gorgeous shade of blue (although Amora still preferred Luke's eyes) and provided a perfect backdrop for the base they zeroed in on. Amora smiled softly at the sight.

It wasn't Naboo, but it was home.

~  ☼  ~

author's note - please read!

i have an important question! so as i've said before i have some chapter plans for the time between four and five, but i don't know whether i should write those now or not. would you guys like it better if i wrote those chapters right after a new hope or should i finish the main story first and add those chapters in later? either way those chapters will be there in the end. but should i do them before writing five or add them in at the end after i'm done with six? i'm leaning more towards finishing the main story first. let me know! and thank you so so much for reading! i'd love a vote and comment as well! :)