Rebel {Luke Skywalker}

"you fight a losing fight."

          The flight to Cloud City was incredibly tense. Ace, who admittedly was usually flirting with Luke, was far too anxious and scared to even begin just polite small talk. Luke was evidently nervous too, the usually talkative Jedi apprentice had fallen quiet, occasionally murmuring remnants of lessons and reminders from Yoda that Ace and Artoo were not supposed to hear. Clearly, his mentors' words had taken quite the toll on him, he was more than worried about succumbing to the dark side, although at least he did seem rather confident in his abilities to save Han and Leia.

     Artoo finally broke the silence, whirring quietly to Ace through the sound system.

     "Of course I'm not worried, Artoo." Said Ace, clearly worried. "Han's been in plenty of tight spots before and he's always been fine. I'm going to show up, ready to save him, and he'll have already taken-" her voice broke and she fell silent.

     "It'll be okay, Ace." Luke's soothing voice flooded the links, "We can save them, they'll be okay, don't worry."

     Ace nodded to herself, taking in a deep breath as she tried to blink back tears which were threatening to spill out from her eyes. Straightening up, she struggled to regain her composure. Luke was right, they would be fine, they would all be okay. They could save them, Ace didn't need to worry. Luke was right.

     He had to be right.

     "You're right." Said Ace shakily, smoothing out her jacket. "We can do this, it'll be easy." She exhaled loudly and then tried to go for a joking smile, "Just don't-just don't run off to the dark side on me, Skywalker."

     "Never."

     They fell into an uneasy silence once more. Neither of them had done much to assure the other, although Ace was breathing easier now. The X-Wing, at its fastest speeds, continued its course through the vast abyss of space, never slowing down.

     After a long while, the X-Wing burst into the Bespin System and then soared through the thick clouds surrounding Cloud City. Her hands and face pressed up against the window, Ac stared out at the beautiful clouds, unable to soak up its beauty. Instead, memories began to haunt her as they flooded her mind of the last time she had been there. It had been long ago when she was much younger, but the memories were still present in her mind, as fresh as ever, back when Lando Calrissian-

     Artoo's doleful whistles jerked her out of her thoughts and she fell back into her seat, greatly disturbed.

     "No," Luke answered, "Threepio's with them."

     Artoo beeped another worried inquiry.

     "Just hang on." Luke told him, "We're almost there."

     "Don't worry, Artoo," added Ace as soothingly as she could with a heavy sigh, "Golden Rod will be fine. They all will."

     Before she knew it, they had landed. As the X-Wing nestled onto the Docking Bay, with no City guards coming to question them, Luke, Ace, and Artoo piled out. Each of them was grim-faced and Luke and Ace held eye contact for but a moment. Her blaster already in her hand, Ace gave Luke a curt nod, which he returned.

     It was time.

~~~~~

     They moved down a deserted hallway stealthily, silence echoing. Ace's finger trembled over the blaster trigger, ready to fire at a moments notice. Far off, the noise of footsteps echoed, followed by a scuffling noise. Artoo let out a series of excited beeps and squeaks, scooting forwards until Luke glared at the tiny droid, who halted in his tracks.