chapter fourteen

       AMORA DIDN'T LIKE HOTH nearly as much as Yavin IV.

       It had been three years since the destruction of the Death Star, and also three years since the rebellion moved their base to the snowy planet. While Yavin IV was known for its temperate climate and gorgeous rainforests, Hoth was known for its below-freezing temperatures and deadly blizzards. Even though the move was necessary after they were tracked, Amora wondered if it was really necessary to move here, where her trusty green jacket wasn't even warm enough for her.

       She tugged said jacket even tighter around her frame with a shiver as she stood next to Leia in the command center. They were called over to a monitor by General Rieekan to review information on the planet.

       "If we can't find any life on this planet, then we may need to tap into our allegiance contacts for resources," he informed the girls firmly, fretting over the strength of the rebellion as a base.

       Living in a frozen location like Hoth drained their supplies (not to mention their time and energy) much quicker than it should've. And since they'd been stuck there for three years without any news of relocation, it was up to them to survive on their own. Unfortunately, the odds didn't seem to be in their favor.

       "But it's impossible we'd have enough allies to survive off of," Leia reasoned, crossing her arms with doubt.

       "Yes, that's true," Rieekan agreed. "But the list has grown since the destruction of the Death Star. More and more people became interested in our cause. I estimate their services will extend our time here by, at most, a year."

       Amora closed her eyes with a tired, deep breath, reaching up to throw her hair into a messy bun. "So are you saying we should be searching for a new base, or should we focus on settling here?"

       "What I'm saying is that we can't just stay hiding from the Empire. We won't survive it. We need to plan our next move, something on the offense, and strike first before we wait ourselves out."

       "We can work on that," Leia replied immediately. "It'll be our next point of interest."

       Amora finished tying up her hair and put her hands in her hips. "And until then, we'll keep scavenging the land. I can go review the individual reports from yesterday."

       Rieekan nodded in agreement. "Yes," he waved his hand in the direction of another monitor. "Please. That would be helpful."

       Amora bowed her head down to Rieekan as a goodbye and smiled softly at Leia. She then walked away from the two and approached the monitor, seeing it already powered on. But she was there hardly five seconds before a voice interfered with her work.

       "Everbright!"

       Amora turned to the west entrance of the room to see Han emerging, wearing a large, furry coat covered in a shower of snowflakes. She had previously sent him and several other rebels, including Luke, on another expedition around the planet to search for any signs of life. So far, they have been unsuccessful.

       He strutted over to the monitor with a frown on his face. Nobody enjoyed the bitter cold, but Han seemed to like it least of all. He was rather dramatic and complained about it all the time. It was surprising he hadn't left already just because of the weather.

       "Commander Solo," she greeted with emphasis, trying to show him that in a formal setting, formal language was required.

       He waved his hand dismissively and continued. "No signs of life out there. The sensors are in place. You'll know if anything comes around."

       After realizing that their official titles weren't necessary, she ditched the formal language as well. "Has Luke come in yet?"

       "No," he spoke with a knowing smirk. "He's checking out a meteorite that hit near him."

       Han knew all about Luke's (very obvious) crush on Amora, and assumed just as much about her. While she was quite harder to read than he was, it was clear that she cared for him just a little bit more than the average rebel. Of course, it would've been much easier for him to tell if she would just outright admit it, like Luke did when he initially asked Han for girl-advice, but he doubted that would happen any time soon. She would never admit it out loud. She probably didn't even realize it herself.

       Amora pursed her lips. "Of course he is," she muttered to herself before speaking to Han. "With all the meteor activity in this system, it's going to be difficult to spot approaching ships."

       "Everbright, I've gotta leave," he said in response, quickly changing the topic of conversation. "I can't stay here anymore."

       Amora blinked in confusion, taken aback by the randomness of his words.

       "What?" she inquired, unprepared and frazzled by the comment. He had been with the rebellion for so long already. Why would he want to leave now?

       "Well, there's a price on my head," he explained. "If I don't pay off Jabba the Hutt, I'm a dead man."

       Amora still stood stunned by the news. This wasn't what she was expecting to hear today.

       "Okay," she began slowly, shifting her weight side to side. "Uh, why now?"

       She tried not to let him see how much his words unraveled her. Han had become a close friend of hers, and here he was telling her that he was leaving as soon as possible with no real time for her to process it.

       "Every day I have this debt, it's more and more dangerous for me and Chewie. I waited as long as I could, but I can't wait any longer."

       She was still shocked, but nodded in understanding. As much as she liked having Han here, it was a miracle that he stayed around this long. It was actually a surprise that he hadn't left sooner.

       "I get it," Amora sighed. "It's just... I wish you didn't have to go. But I get it."

       She smiled at him sadly and held her arms out for a hug, which he gave in to immediately. He wrapped his arms around her contently, knowing he would miss her hugs.

       Through the years, Han became less of a friend and more of an older brother. He reminded her of Kavi, sometimes a little too much, and unintentionally filled a hole in Amora's heart. She didn't realize just how much she would miss him until their last hug.

       He pulled away from her with a sad smile of his own and ruffled her hair, making it even messier than the messy bun it was thrown in already.

       "Now it'll be up to you to keep yourself outta trouble," he spoke sarcastically.

       Amora rolled her eyes. "Oh please, you are the trouble." she retorted before lowering her voice to a whisper. "Have you told Leia yet?"

       She expected Han to tense up, but if anything, he appeared more relaxed. A cocky grin spread across his face as he rolled his eyes as well.

       "Oh, I will," he laughed, his eyes peering over Amora's shoulder. "Speaking of which..."

       He then walked past her in the direction of another monitor where Leia stood, pretending not to not notice their conversation. Amora smirked and headed for the exit to give them as much privacy as she could, even if they were standing in a busy room. Leia would tell her all about it later, anyways.

       Once she left the room, she found herself in a long, icy corridor, which was much colder than the command center. She took a right, heading past the tauntaun pen, and trekked down to hangar bay seven. She wanted to find Chewie before him and Han left.

       Stepping into the large bay, she instantly spotted the Millennium Falcon. It was a giant ship compared to the clusters of X-wings and T-47s. It stood in the corner of the room in all its glory, with a familiar Wookiee standing on top of it.

       "Hey, Chewie!" Amora called out, jogging over to the ship as she waved her hand.

       Chewie whipped his head around in confusion, unable to find the owner of the voice. But once he did, he roared happily, crouched down, and hopped off the ship. He growled continuously with joy as he engulfed her in a big, furry hug.

       Although Amora still couldn't understand a thing he was saying, she had gotten better at understanding him through context clues. She assumed that, right now, he was telling her that he would miss her when he was gone.

       "Yeah, Han told me," she explained dismally into his arm. "I'm really gonna miss you guys. Especially your warm hugs!"

       She snuggled into his arm a little bit more before pulling away. Chewie moaned gloomily in agreement as he patted her back softly.

       Unwrapping her arms from around him, she glanced behind him at the Millennium Falcon with a soft gaze.

       "Do you need any help with that, Chewie?" Amora asked, nudging her head to the Falcon.

       He shrugged lightly with a neutral growl and guided her to below the ship. Motioning vaguely to an open panel above them, Chewie roared instructions, which Amora tried to follow. She noticed that there was a great amount of frost coating the technology, and hoped that that's what he was referring to.

       "Do you want me to clean out the frost?" she asked, looking back at him for approval. "I don't think the Falcon will function if it's this cold."

       He nodded enthusiastically and patted her on the back once more. With another happy growl, he left her alone underneath the ship, leaving Amora to do the work.

       She looked back at the panel and smiled with satisfaction. It was nice to do one last favor for a friend. And with that, she moved her gloved hands into the compartment to clear out the frost.

       She had only been busy for maybe fifteen minutes before she was interrupted by a distressed voice calling out for her.

       "Amora! There you are!"

       Amora turned around to see Leia emerge from a nearby doorway. She peered at the princess in curiosity, a little surprised by her panicked expression. She appeared troubled and on-edge as she jogged over to meet the girl.

       "Hey, you okay?" Amora asked her, confused as she placed a hand on her friend's arm.

       Leia ignored the question and asked her own. "Have you seen Luke?"

       Amora furrowed her eyebrows in concern. The last she heard about Luke was from Han about twenty minutes ago. If Leia didn't know where he was now, then there was a possibility he was still out in the cold, not to mention the extreme blizzard predicted for tonight.

       "Uh, no?" she answered with a quickened heart rate, hoping her worries were only paranoia. "Has he... has he not come back yet?"

       Leia frowned and shook her head. "Not that I know of. I'm starting to get worried."

       A shiver passed through Amora, but this time, she didn't think it was from the cold.

       "Well," she started cautiously, determined to not let her nervousness show. "Maybe someone else has seen him. Have you asked Han? He might have new information."

       A stiff look passed over Leia at the mention of the man, probably because of their mysterious conversation earlier. It was no secret that she had some sort of feelings for Han (well, to everyone but herself), but Amora didn't think it was the right time to tease her about it.

       "He wasn't answering his communicator, so I sent Threepio to ask," Leia replied uncomfortably.

       Amora took a shaky deep breath and weighed the possibilities. Luke could easily be safe in the base right now, and maybe it's a coincidence that no one has seen him. Or maybe he never came back at all and he's out there in the snow, lost and struggling. Or, worst of all, maybe he's already dead.

       She quickly wrung her hands out before answering quietly. "Maybe he just forgot to check in."

       But even she didn't believe that. Luke never forgot to check in, not after his first expedition mission, when nobody told him he needed to check in afterwards. Amora had spent the night restless and worried, only to find him casually drinking hot chocolate the next morning. After a bitter scolding and a few weak hits on the arm, Luke amusedly assured her that it wouldn't happen again.

       She would've smiled fondly at the memory, but right now, it only made her more worried.

       "I hope so," Leia agreed with a shake of her head, but she didn't seem convinced either. They could pretend to be optimistic all they wanted, but it wouldn't change anything.

       Before either of them could say anything else, a deck officer ran up to them in a hurry. Amora didn't recognize him, but he clearly recognized them. He paused for a second, out of breath, before delivering his message.

       "Commander Solo has left the base in search of Commander Skywalker."

       Amora sighed frustratedly, her stress levels only rising with the news. Just when she thought things couldn't get worse, they did.

       "Who told you this?" Leia questioned the man, probably hoping it wasn't true, hoping that maybe, just maybe, it was only a rumor.

       "I saw it with my own eyes," he confirmed.

       So it's not just a rumor.

       "Thank you, officer," Leia acknowledged him politely before he ran off once more.

       But once he was gone, her stoic exterior broke. "Now both of them are gone?!" she groaned tiredly, looking everywhere but Amora's eyes.

       Both girls were frustrated beyond measure, especially since there was nothing they could do to help. All they could do was stand around and wait for news.

       Amora closed her eyes helplessly and brought her hands to the back of her head, playing with her hair on instinct.

       "There's nothing we can do about it right now. We just need to have hope."

~ ☼ ~

author's note -

welcome to act two!!! thank you for sticking around up until now and i hope you'll stick around for more. if i'm being honest, i don't actually have any outlines for act two. as in, i have no clue how many chapters it will be or how long it will take. i'm hoping i can get an idea a few chapters in, so please bear with me! because of this, some updates may take longer than others. but please know that i am constantly working on this book and trying to make it the best it can be! thank you again for your support! :)