The Cruellest Thing

The Mission

Rose Tico used to daydream about all the heroic deeds she would accomplish when she first joined the Resistance. But it took her only a couple of days to realise that the rebels were already full on skilled pilots like her sister, hot-blooded daredevils and heroic leaders like Poe Dameron. They were in desperate need of grease monkeys though, people who could fix blasters, fighters and jammed doors to command centres.

She knew of course that she was as important as the next resistance fighter. And truth to be told she wasn't the best shot anyway, but with a hydro spanner she was a poet. Every TIE fighter shot down by the cannons she had carefully adjusted felt like a personal victory.

And perhaps not everybody was cut out to be a hero. A hero like Paige who had given her life for the cause she believed in; a hero like General Organa who fought the good fight decades after decades, without losing hope or her warmth; a hero like Finn who turned against the system who had brought him up.

Finn. When she met Finn she was overwhelmed, even awed by him. And she had seen the way Finn had looked at Rey when she had saved them – and Rose had understood. It was only proper for a hero to fall for a heroine. The woman who had slain Supreme Leader Snoke and had defeated his guards, there was no way she could compete against that. At first she had felt a sting of jealousy every time she had seen Finn smile at Rey, but when General Organa set up a new base in the Outer Rim she got to know her; she had instantly liked her. Rey was good-hearted, brave and a true friend. She had also grown from a spunky scavenger into a cool-headed leader. General Organa and she were often seen discussing strategies late at night.

And Rose ... Rose was where she had started. She still enjoyed her work, but sometimes she caught herself daydreaming again, remembering the time she had the audacity to sneak on board of a First Order cruiser. Finn still visited her, they had become friends, but she felt that her moment of glory was gone.

When Poe asked her to help him with a mission, she didn't even need to think. Didn't even ask if there was someone else who could do the job.

"Don't you want to hear first what the mission entails?" asked Poe with a smile.

Rose eagerly rubbed her hands together. "I'm up for anything."

"Good to hear. So, have you ever heard of Ghrma 4?"

She shook her head.

"Neither had I until we received intel that the First Order was trying to land on this moon."

Rose frowned. "Trying?"

"There are a lot of ion particles in the atmosphere. It plays havoc with most systems. As far as we can tell they haven't succeeded, but we have to assume that there is something important on this rock. Long story short – we want you to isolate a shuttle as good as possible so that we can have a look at whatever the First Order is doing down there."

"That's it?" asked Rose, unable to hide her disappointment. "I'm not even going on the mission?"

Poe patted her back. "There is no need to risk a pilot and our best mechanic in a simple recon mission."

Rose suspected that Poe wasn't entirety truthful when he called her the 'best mechanic', but she decided to take the compliment anyway.

"Okay."

It took her about two days until she had a shuttle ready. There was no real protection against ion particles, but she had done what was humanly possible. When she put the finishing touches on the engines she realised that she had to do more than just prep the ship. There was no other way, she told herself.