On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter CXLI

It was strange, being back on the Executor. Even more strange in that Vader was not aboard as well. Luna could probably count on one hand how many times she had been aboard the super star destroyer without the Sith Lord. She had never seen a reason to be on the Executor while he was absent. If she wasn't headed down planetside to assist him, Luna would usually remain on her own ship until he returned.

What was even odder than that was walking into her chambers to find them undisturbed, as though she'd only left for Bespin last week rather than months upon months ago. It felt so long ago since she'd last been in this room, so much had changed, Luna had changed, and yet these rooms had remained the same.

She had come to her room to both rest and check in on Vader's chambers after sorting through everything with Piett. Everything had namely been where to park the Executor after the Imperial loyalists among the 501st had disembarked via escape pods onto a habitable planet (neither Luke nor the Rebellion would have approved of executions, though such action would have slowed knowledge of the hijacking and prevented those forces from rejoining the Imperial military). She had overseen the entire process and had personally screened every remaining crewmember (the majority of the ship's usual complement of crew, over 50,000 people) to make sure there were no traitors or spies hidden among them. After that, there was the ship-wide announcement about the Rebellion having become an ally and Commander Skywalker's presence aboard. A small demonstration had been required after that to ensure order, and Luna had to go back over the crew and rid the Executor of those who were unwilling to work with the Rebellion.

Needless to say, it had taken a while, and she hadn't had much time for rest. Even after entering the familiar private floor, the girl still had work to do. Luna had discovered that Vader's rooms had been disturbed and searched through, and as such spent time putting things back in order. She only just finished organizing and fixing the rooms back to his standards and had come to her bedroom to rest her weary body.

It may be strange, but the familiarity that came about from the seemingly static existence of her chambers allowed Luna to relax for the first time since boarding the vessel. She hadn't been able to earlier due to necessity. After all, she had to get both herself and Luke aboard via spacewalking after Ahsoka had dropped them off without tripping any sensors, and once aboard, they needed to make it to the bridge without alerting the Emperor's Hand. As it was, Luke had accidentally slipped up and let the Hand sense his presence. If it weren't for Aiolin Astarte, Vader would have lost a rather useful Admiral. Thankfully, everything had worked out, and the Executor was theirs once more.

The ex-Shadow let out a long tired breath as she back-flopped onto the bed, almost moaning in satisfaction as she hit the mattress and the high-tech-whatever that recognized her bioscan adjusted to her weight and cradled her as though she were floating on a cloud. By the Force she had missed her bed.

Personalization was not encouraged, but that didn't mean Luna hadn't invested in a nice mattress when it had come to Vader's flagship. The only other places that could compare would have been her bedroom in the Fortress on Mustafar or Vader's Palace on Coruscant, and while those were of equal quality, they weren't exactly designed the same. For instance one that had been in the Fortress had been designed to be a bit cool to assist in a decent temperature considering the lava world it was on and to help after extensive training while the one on the Executor was meant to be a bit warm to hot to combat space's ever present chill and assist in relaxation after a campaign. Even now, Luna could feel the warmth soaking into her skin through the bedcovers, heating up a fraction more where the bed sensed extra tightness or sourness.

After a near year of going without, it was a welcome change from the other beds Luna had been sleeping on as of late. In fact, despite everything, the girl was more than a little tempted to get the rest of the way in and go to sleep.

"This was a mistake," she mumbled to herself. Luna had only planned to lay down to rest her body paired with a very short meditation session before seeing to the all the paperwork that was once again her's to complete until Vader return and hopefully took over the duties and didn't shovel them at her like always. Succumbing to the temptations of her bed had not been a part of the plan. Only now was the Rebel Warrior recalling why the couch had been her usual locale for short spells of rest when aboard Vader's flagship.

At the very least she should check in on Luke and get moved into his rooms....or had Luna delegated that task to Astarte? The ex-Shadow hadn't actually seen the boy since they'd split paths on the bridge, but Astarte had shown up at one point with Luke nearby—he was to stay out of the way and out of sight until loyalty had been determined and Luna had given a ship-wide announcement, which she had not yet done at that point.

But it was so nice being off her feet. And still. And.... Well, simply put, Luna did not want to move any time soon and had little motivation to do so.

That said, she did not plan on giving into sleep. Luna turned on some music that was not in the soothing/fall asleep category, and tried to plan out what to do next. Unfortunately, her mind had reached its limit, and as much as the ex-Shadow wanted to think about how to lead the 501st in a mission against the Empire before Vader reclaimed control, she wasn't getting anywhere. Not even halfway through the first song, all Luna's mind was capable of was listening to the lyrics and watching the words flicker through her mind's eye.

"....It's like running underwater, like punching in the dark,

Like punching in the dark,

Like punching in the dark.

We used to get along,

Now we're not vibin' on the same wave anymore, no.

We grew too far apart, left way too many scars,

And we can't be restored...."

Before the second song started, she was already sleeping.