Luke and Leia - Rebels [2]

2: Preparation

One year later

It was quiet, just how Leia liked it. She sighed in content and opened her eyes, peeling herself off of the wall where she'd leaned against. It was rare to have peace and quiet in a Rebel base, especially a large one like the Hoth station, which was why she'd learned quickly after arriving to take advantage of any that existed. She briefly skimmed over a glass display with blue markers and lines identifying border patrols, then looked at the codes below to see who was on patrol at the moment.

"Commander Skywalker." General Thatna greeted her as he walked in. "How goes the patrol?"

"No trouble yet." Leia updated him with a firm nod. "Just the usual. They should be back within the hour."

"If not, come find me." The general commanded, leaving the room as quickly as he'd entered it. Thatna was a busy man, in charge of everything to do with border patrol to space regulation. His job was to make sure the Rebel Alliance stayed invisible on Hoth, which was astronomically easier said than done. But he'd been successful so far; Hoth had only been established as a base for a few rotations, and the planet was still Empire-free.

Not that it was of any value to them otherwise; Hoth was a barren wasteland of a planet. That part Leia was used to. It was the cold that really got her. As if on cue, she shivered and crossed her arms. Of course it had to be her of all people stuck on an ice cube of a planet; first it was a dust heap, now an ice block. At this point she was starting to believe that she just had a nasty habit of picking the worst planets imaginable to live on.

Leia walked out into the hallway, and as she did so the lights flickered momentarily. Ice made a terrible conductor for electricity, and also didn't help matters by chewing away at wire coating. Every now and then the wire would get chewed all the way through, causing a short circuit which definitely wasn't ideal for a fully functioning headquarters.

Leaving someone else to handle monitoring the patrol, Leia walked into the main hangar where several snowspeeders sat all in a row. There were a few Y-Wings here and there as well but most had been lost in the Battle of Yavin, along with several X and A-Wings. She could still remember the exact moment she realized that the space station had been destroyed and the immense feeling of relief that accompanied it, especially when she heard her brother's voice in person again afterwards. Everything had seemed perfect in that one moment, like nothing would ever be wrong again. How naive she'd been.

Since then the Rebel Alliance had been struggling exponentially because the Empire now saw the organization as a valid threat. Almost everywhere the Rebellion went the Empire followed, and it had taken over a year of destroyed bases and running to find a planet devoid of any Imperial presence. As far as Leia was aware Hoth was the only planet completely free, with the rest of the Rebel based being less than ideal but just free enough to function.

A loud crack jolted Leia out of her misgivings and she stood alert, a hand on her blaster without even knowingly putting it there. She sighed in relief however when she realized it was just the hangar door opening to let the morning patrol in, and braved herself against the harsh unforgiving cold that would follow.

And follow it did. Leia scrunched her face up and crossed her arms as the painfully cold air hit her like a smack in the face. Even with several layers on it still managed to permeate down to her bones, leaving her shivering helplessly.

Luckily soon enough the door was closed again, and Leia walked up to the patrol to get a status report. The patrol leader, a Rodian named Raek, nodded to her as she approached him. "Raek. Any updates?"

"Not much is going on out there right now, the only thing I'm even mildly concerned about is that it's hibernating season for Wampa's so they may migrate towards our base." The Rodian informed her. "Besides that, Hoth's as boring as ever."

Leia chuckled. "I hear that. Thank you."

Raek nodded and rejoined his group while Leia went to update Thatna. Her job of late was more of a delivery girl than anything else, and it was infuriating. But she was nothing if not patient, soon her time would come for fieldwork. At the same time, she wasn't quite sure if she was ready or not to be out firing a blaster and killing people. She'd done that enough on the Death Star.

She found Thatna quickly enough and told him, and he nodded relievedly. "That's good to hear, Skywalker. Thank you."

"Yes sir, of course." She nodded and walked away with a sinking feeling in her chest. It was nice being the only Skywalker because it was never confusing, but at the same time she missed Luke dearly at times. Every now and then she felt like she'd give an entire limb just for him to cheer her up. But he wasn't here, and contacting other Rebel bases wasn't allowed because the Empire could pick up and track the frequency on all but a few coded comms of which only the highest officials on each base possessed.

"All pilots and lieutenants please report to the briefing area. Repeat, all pilots and lieutenants please report to the briefing area." The intercom declared. Leia was technically a lieutenant, mainly because of her proficiency with both a fighter and a blaster in her field test but she was too inexperienced and young to be any higher ranking.

She made her way into the briefing area to see that she was one of the first ones, and smiled a greeting at her favorite general, General Harne. Harne was a fierce but fair leader, and Leia had the privilege of serving under her for a few rotations until she'd switched to Thatna. Harne gave her a warm greeting. "Skywalker."

"General." Leia responded. "What's this all about?"

"I'll update you whenever everyone else arrives, but some of you are being exported to a few other bases because they're running low on people."

Leia felt her hopes rise immediately. "You mean there's a possibility I won't be stuck on this ice rock?"

Harne chuckled. "If that's what you want, I think I could arrange something."

Leia grinned from ear to ear. "I'd greatly appreciate it if you could." She replied, sitting down as the rest of the pilots and lieutenants filed in.

The meeting started shortly after with Harne updating them on the fact that the Rebel bases on planets named Gethr, Yaris, and Hesk were constantly in Imperial combat and needed more soldiers, and that since Hoth was the least dangerous and had the most people Mon Mothma ordered a transfer.

However, unbeknownst to Leia Harne had already decided who was leaving, and Leia was placed under the Yaris shipment. She couldn't keep a smile off of her face when she realized it, and noticed that Harne saw it as well because she gave her a small smile.

The meeting ended, with everyone dispersing. But Leia stayed behind to thank Harne, and she was a bit surprised that the older woman looked more somber than before. "Yaris is the most dangerous of the Rebel planets listed, but I placed you on that transferral because I know you can handle it." The general confided in her. "You're strong and brave, and I've enjoyed working with you. Perhaps our paths will cross again someday."

"I'm counting on it." Leia declared with a small smile. "Thank you."

Harne sighed and smiled, but the smile seemed halfhearted. She placed a hand on Leia's shoulder. "Get to packing, Skywalker. You have a long journey ahead of you."

Hey everyone! Wow it's been over a year since I updated this book lol my bad XD

I just got carried away with school and such but I'm back now and hopefully will be maintaining more regular updates, but if I were you I wouldn't count on it. But anyways, here's this one and I'll see you all in the next update!

Nelgiz :)