She's a Rebel [Star Wars | Luke Skywalker] *EDITING*

Moving Out

I never really do go to sleep after hearing them talk like that. They fall silent not long after, the only thing I can hear being Luke's breath as it brushes over the top of my head and the faint rumble of bombs landing on the earth above every now and then. Everything must be rubble by now, surely.

I decide to get up when I hear a few others troops begin to rouse themselves, groaning and yawning as they stand from the rustling sheets and stretch.

I gently push myself up from Luke, carefully moving his arms aside as to not wake him, and sit on the side of our bunk. My eyes move around the bunker, the yellow lights still ugly, the low concrete ceilings making me feel surprisingly vulnerable and trapped. Then my eyes move to Luke, and my gaze becomes fixated on him as he sleeps, and I watch his chest rising and falling slowly beneath the covers. I reach over and run my hand through his blonde hair, stroking my thumb over his cheek as I do so.

"Nat," I hear Jasper hiss, and I glance over to find him leaning against the bunk beds occupied by Zach and Dex. He jerks his head in the direction of the far left corner, where I see Quinn standing in front of the screens, and I give him an understanding nod as a reply. He bows his head back slightly and smirks at Luke asleep in the bunk before he mooches back over to Joanna.

I pull my boots onto my feet and pull Luke's jacket on, as I'm only in a light vest from last night. It's surprisingly draughty, the air making me cold and uncomfortable. When I stand I find my knee isn't as bad as I had thought last night, and I can quite easily walk over to Quinn without much pain at all.

She turns from the screens and smiles at me kindly, her expression softening from her usual hard frown. "Morning, General," she says, and I run a hand through my knotty black hair and smile back, trying to brush it.

"Morning, Sergeant," I reply, pulling my hair round and twisting into a low bun.

She turns back to the screen, her eyebrows furrowing once again, and she lets out a deep sigh. "The factory got hit, but not bad. Only the crew quarters, and the troops had already evacuated down here. No casualties. But..."

"What?" I ask, frowning too.

"A lot of Boomtown has been destroyed, and the Empire have instigated a planetary blockade. Many ships from the civilian territories were shot down attempting to flee."

"We've got a transmission coming in!" Mattin calls, and Quinn leans forward and taps the screen several times, accepting it. The soft, weathered face of Mon Mothma appears on the screen.

"Someone get Zach," Quinn commands, glancing over her shoulder at my sleeping friend for a second, and I nod, heading back over to him and gently shaking him awake.

He stirs with a grunt, squinting as he opens his eyes. "What?" he murmurs, sitting up and swinging his legs round, pulling on his boots.

"Transmission from Mon Mothma,"I reply, and his eyes widen as he stands.

"Hawkins, Nicholson," I hear Quinn demand, and we both rush over to the screen as Zach clumsily pulls his jacket on, Mattin and Jasper having also joined Quinn.

"General Madine and I believe that the Empire is planning an attack on your planet," Mon Mothma says with a heavy sigh. "I suggest you all get yourselves out of there and past the blockade as soon as you can."

Quinn scoffs at her. "Have you any idea what it's like to be in a dogfight? We'd lose more than half our troops trying to get past the planetary blockade, but I don't expect you to understand that because you're nothing more than a bureaucrat."

"And what of the civilians still in Skadi? Have they just been resigned to death?" Mattin interjects.

Mon Mothma sighs again. "This great struggle is a people's struggle: a struggle between the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor, the cruel and the gentle. They are as much a part of this as you and your troops." Her light green eyes move to me. "Natalie, please. Operation Wolffe is doomed to fail without you, Quinn and the other troops."