FLYING SOLO ➳ luke skywalker

TWELVE! GHOST STORIES

THE SLAM was a dystopia of scum, crooks and villains, and Analia was the worst of them all. Aboard the Revenant, she hauled precious cargo from Alderaan to Daiyu, where she docked her infamous ship in its assigned bay at the Coffer.

"Ana." Donio Xenos appeared in the cockpit, hard-faced and unnerving. Analia promptly pressed the button that swivelled her seat, looked him in his shadowed eyes, and he said, "Go get the princess. Bring her out to me."

Analia gave a stiff nod. "Sir."

Grabbing the helmet that she had tucked comfortably into the nook on the dashboard, she nodded a thanks to Jadu, her co-pilot, and exited the cockpit. The prisoner was stashed in the brig, where Analia had left her. A toy droid she hadn't known was on the princess's person was slicing through her bonds.

"Give me that," Analia grunted, snatching the droid.

"Lola!" the princess cried.

"Can it." Analia seized the girl by the shoulder, hauling her to her feet and out into the main hold. She found Donio waiting for her, shuffling playing cards at the table. When she entered with the princess, he promptly got to his feet, rubbed his palm across his dark stubble.

"What's this?" Donio jerked his head towards the toy droid.

Analia passed it to him. "She had it on her," she said. "It was cutting her loose."

With a scowl falling across his cruel face, Donio tossed the droid onto the floor and crushed it beneath his boot. The princess cried out in protest again.

"My father will rescue me!" she shouted, with all the naivety of a sheltered, privileged, but unconditionally loved little girl. "He'll send a whole army!"

Analia cocked her head to the side, eyes poring over the little princess. She couldn't have been much younger than Analia was herself—two years, maybe. Three at the most. And yet she hadn't even managed to put up a shred of a fight against Trix. She had the spirit, there was no doubt about that, but none of the tact, the cunning, the strength. Suddenly, Analia felt the weight of a lost childhood collapse around her shoulders. But Donio was quick to snap her back to reality as he bent down, leaning in close to the princess, sneering. 

"No one's coming for you," he taunted.

***

Hoth was an ice world, void of all civilised population, and therefore the least crime-ridden planet in the Outer Rim territories. It could not have differed more from Daiyu, with its felonious cities that scraped the sky, dense with air pollution, and bursting population. Although, 'civilised' was probably not the best word to describe the people of Daiyu. Analia could certainly vouch for that.

A lot had changed over the course of the years that led Analia from Daiyu to Hoth. The fact that she was in a rebel base on the ice world proved that. But one thing remained strikingly the same, and that was the fact that, on both Daiyu and Hoth, Analia found herself in the presence of Princess Leia of Alderaan. Leia may have been oblivious, but Old Ben had recognised her, Analia had never been more sure of anything in her life. Why he never exposed her, she had lent much thought to, but she could never draw a conclusion more reasonable than he was simply a good person who saw the best in people and understood that they could change. But this seemed too good to be true at times.

It was a cold night. Most of the rebels had already retreated to the barracks. In the rec room, Analia had a hat pulled tight over her ears, a tankard of Corellian spiced ale clutched close to her chest. With a shudder, she passed the ale to Luke, who offered her his coat for what must have been the fifth time. She declined, nudging him with her elbow, and huddled closer to Chewbacca for warmth. On the bench across from them, Leia had been swallowed by Han's coat. He hadn't given her much of a say in the matter, really. He just saw her shiver and slung the piece of clothing around her shoulders, no words exchanged. Luke slid the tankard of ale to the fighter next to him, who drained the contents, then tipped the container upside down to show that it was empty.