Hearts of Rebels | Star Wars Fanfiction

Chapter X

"I hope you and that old man got that tractor beam out of commission, or this is going to be a real short trip. Okay, hit it!" Han called as he entered the cockpit.

Rhea grunted in return, gripping her side in pain. She dropped down onto the seats that circled the Dejarik board, Luke right at her side.

"How bad is it? Is it deep?"

The Princess strode over to them and kneeled beside Rhea, inspecting the wound.

"Relax. She'll be fine, it's just a graze," She looked at the shelves around her and pointed to a particular box. "Get me a bacta patch."

Luke fished out what the Princess requested and handed the bandage to her. She pressed the patch against the wound, causing a hiss to escape Rhea's lips. The Princess let go once the bandage was secure and rubbed her shoulder.

"It will only sting for a little while longer,"

Luke sighed and sat down beside Rhea, scratching at the boards peeling paint.

"Sorry, Rhea. If I hadn't frozen when..." Luke rubbed his eyes and looked at the board sullenly. Rhea rubbed his back, knowing her wound wasn't the only thing on his mind. The Princess came back over with his poncho, covering him with it like a blanket.

"I can't believe he's gone," He whimpered.

"There wasn't anything you could of done," The Princess spoke softly, giving Rhea a concerned look. Their mourning was interrupted as Han rushed through the main hold, throwing Luke a headset.

"Come on, buddy. We're not out of this yet. Rhea, I need you piloting the ship with Chewie,"

Luke clenched his fists and snatched the headset, heading to the gunner's section with a new vendetta. Meanwhile, Rhea and the Princess ran to the cockpit.

"Quite the rescue party you've got here," The Princess mused. Rhea sat in the co-pilot seat, Chewbacca giving her a brief rundown of the ship's controls.

"Yeah, we might just get out of this mess...?"

"Leia," The Princess answered with a warm smile.

"Here they come," She was cut off as the ship lurched to the side, Chewbacca barked as Leia pointed to TIE Fighters flying past the cockpit. Rhea held down a blue button next to an intercom.

"Han, Luke, two Fighters coming your way," She let go of the button and pulled back on the speed as Chewbacca manoeuvred the ship. Chewbacca barked again pointing to a certain group of buttons and switches. Rhea quickly turned the deflector shield up as the TIE's rained lasers against the hull of the ship.

"Karabast, what are they doing back there!" Rhea swore as the other TIE Fighter came in, disabling their shields for a few moments.

"They're coming in too fast!" Luke's voice buzzed over the comm. Two other Fighters came in with a barrage of laser beams. The deflector shields flickered dying again, the ship being rocked viciously from the blasts.

"We've lost lateral controls!" Leia announced, Rhea gritted her teeth as the TIE's came back for another round.

"Han, if you are planning on doing something about those Fighters, I suggest you do it now!" She yelped as a proton torpedo hit the ship, causing smoke and sparks to plume out the controls.

"Don't worry, she'll hold together! You hear me, baby? Hold together!" Han fretted over the comm.

The two young women watched fearfully as a TIE zoomed across their vision, seconds later debris of the ship flew back into view.

They shared a smile regaining hope, another explosion was heard outside the ship with more debris flying past their view. They all started cheering, apart from poor C-3PO who was yelling in fear that they were all going to die.

"Got him! I got him!" Luke celebrated over the comm.

"Great kid, don't get cocky!" Han congratulated.

"There are still two more of them out there!" Rhea reminded them.

More explosions, rattles and debris later, and the fight was finally over. Luke and Han could be heard laughing over the comm whilst the three in the cockpit hugged each other gleefully.

As the ship launched into Hyperspace Rhea left the cockpit, Chewbacca taking back his seat. Han patted her shoulder grinning. The gesture reminded her of Ben. Even though she'd know him barely a day, it still pained her to think of him.

"You're quite the co-pilot," He remarked, pleased.

"And you're quite the shooter,"

Han grinned even more and sat down in his seat to converse with Leia whereas Rhea left going into the main hold, just in time to see Luke climbing out the gunner's section.

"That was some amazing shooting!" Rhea exclaimed.

"I had no idea you flew" The two hugged quickly. Rhea grunted as Luke pressed on her wound. He let go concerned, but they laughed it off.

"I watched enough holotapes and raced enough old speeders to learn a thing or two about flying," They beamed at each other giddy off their success.

"Well, I'm going to assess the damage in the back with Artoo,"

Luke smiled from ear to ear and put an arm around her shoulders.

"I'll help. We can't risk you opening that wound after all,"

Rhea shook her head at him but agreed, heading to the back of the ship together.

They both held back laughter as they were greeted with the scene of R2-D2 attempting to free C-3PO from cables he had entangled himself in.

"Help, I'm melting!"

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