Work Text:
Hera Syndulla looked at her team. Exhaustion, determination, frustration - she saw it all. The Resistance had asked her and her squadron to attend a mission briefing with Admiral Ackbar to discuss the First Order’s newest weapon. Like the Empire of old, this was a planetary weapon meant to annihilate worlds. This weapon in particular though, used the core energy of a planet. The planet killer’s name was Starkiller Base. Hera had celebrated the first Death Star’s explosion at the hands of the Rebel Alliance. She had celebrated the demise of Grand Moff Tarkin but had grieved with Leia afterwards over the loss of Alderaan. Hera herself had helped to destroy the second Death Star over Endor which had signalled a new age for all worlds. One in which planets were liberated from the Empire’s grasp and were able to rebuild and revitalize with time. It had been years since the fall of the Empire and the Battle of Jakku, and yet history had decided to repeat itself with the rise of the First Order and development of Starkiller Base. The Admiral had several potential options on how to best try to gather intelligence about the First Order and their plans, and was asking for Phoenix Squadron’s thoughts on how to best proceed.
To her right sat Ezra Bridger. Ezra was much taller now than when he and Hera had first met. His hair had grown out and he now pulled it back in a ponytail, much like Kanan had. He wore a cloak overtop of his armour and clothing - a way to honour the Jedi tradition. He also sported a cropped, neat beard and quietly sipped at his caf as he listened to the mission briefing. To Hera, it seemed like the everything about Ezra was new and changing, including his lightsaber - now a bright orange colour. He’d found the kyber crystal when he’d been missing in the Unknown Regions. Ezra didn’t talk about how it had called to him, but had said that Thrawn and Eli had helped him acquire it. Hera gave a little smile to herself, thinking about how the young blue-eyed, blue haired commander had grown into a brave and compassionate Jedi Master. His sacrifices, his risks, had saved Hera more times than she could remember. Having Ezra back after missing for so long had made her feel their home was whole again. She was so proud of all that he had accomplished and felt that his leadership, his path as a Jedi would never waiver.
Sabine Wren sat to her left, dressed in her full Mandolorian beskar armor. Her bright red and magenta hair stood out in a partial mohawk, her amber eyes sharply darting between the presentation and the faces of all those attending, gauging the reaction of her fellow squad mates. She too, was battle hardened from fighting the Empire. Sabine left Lothal after the Battle of Jakku, and with Ahsoka Tano, searched for Ezra for years before successfully finding him. Ezra and Sabine were inseparable since his return - two kindred spirits searching for each other who were finally together again. Sabine was strength personified - all spirit, all grit - but she had softened as well, painting more when she could and meditating with Ezra’s instruction. She always firmly noted that her goal was to return to Mandolore to help rule over House Wren and guide her people, but when things were quiet, she found excuses to stay. Hera suspected the major reason was Ezra, but knew Sabine remained torn between her loyalties both here and at home.
Eli Vanto sat diagonally from her, his arms crossed, looking slightly sleep-deprived. Despite this, he seemed transfixed on Admiral Ackbar’s presentation on the screen. His tanned complexion and freckles stood out under the artificial lighting of the meeting room, and he tapped a few notes onto his datapad. Eli was a new but welcome member to the team, having returned with Ezra and Thrawn from the Unknown Regions. A tremendously hard worker and quite dedicated to the Resistance, Eli had a perpetually youthful disposition and an always ready laugh. He seemed perpetually at ease around Hera and the others. He was curious, forever asking questions - but also seemed to be a well-seasoned veteran of the galaxy at the same time. He’d originally been born on Lysatra, a planet in Wild Space and had the accent to match. Eli had initially been drafted into the Empire with dreams of doing shipping for a job before he’d met Thrawn. Ezra had mused that Eli was always destined for greater things, that the Force had nudged him onto his current path, but Hera had laughed at that, noting that Eli was a good person and would have always found his way to a good place. Eli had become the planner and organizer of Phoenix Squadron and took great pride in teasing Sabine, one of the messiest crew members, about her room and armory. Sabine in turn, took great pleasure in sparring with Eli and beat him every single time, resulting in many heckles from their teammates.
Thrawn, or Mitth’raw’nuruodo as his people called him, was directly across from Hera. Hera and Thrawn had been enemies, then unwilling allies - but recently were inching closer to something resembling a sincere friendship. The prior Grand Admiral of the Imperial Navy had always been a secret agent for the Chiss Ascendancy within the Empire, unbeknownst to Hera. His tactics of intimidation and terror had made Hera swear to herself at one point to have a personal role in exacting some sort of justice from him. Ezra’s harnessing of the Purgills through the Force had taken that chance from her. Ezra had never spoken much at all about what had happened to them both after their trip to the Unknown Regions, but had noted once with some sadness that Thrawn had lost everything. Somehow Ezra and the Chiss had forged a life debt of sorts, although it hadn’t been exactly that. Ezra had said that Thrawn had saved his life on several occasions and that they were now more kindred than anything - a Lothalian term often reserved for a close friend. While Hera had significant reservations about Thrawn joining the Rebellion when they returned, with time she discovered they were unfounded. He wasn’t the same villain who had left Lothal with Ezra years ago. The austere formality of the Imperial Admiral was gone and in its place, Hera guessed, was the true personality of Thrawn: a brilliant genius who was thoughtful but never really got close to anyone, who was a bit of an outsider wherever he landed. He had an unexpected, dry sense of humour that he’d revealed slowly with time. Jacen had taken a shine to Thrawn when they had first met and the two sometimes were inseparable, playing Dejarik and Sabacc and voraciously reading whatever datapad books the other had acquired. While she didn’t know much about Thrawn’s personal past (and suspected she never would), Thrawn had once said Jacen reminded him of someone from his extended family he’d lost. She’d never seen much emotion from the Chiss, but the very few times she had seen him laugh - Hera had been shocked - had been because of Jacen’s antics aboard The Ghost. Right now, Thrawn’s expression remained passive and his arms were firmly crossed. Hera couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but she knew he’d already been calculating opinions in his mind within minutes of the presentation’s start.
Jacen, her son, sat in a chair a bit away from the table behind Hera. The teenager looked like his father more and more every day - his teal eyes seemed to always shine, and he seemed to take every day in stride. Jacen was Force-sensitive and Hera had feared in his youth that he might be sought out by Inquisitors or other remnants of the Empire for his abilities. That day never came though and Jacen began to ask questions - lots of them - about how he could learn to be like his father and Ezra. Hera had thought about asking Ahsoka to train Jacen, but had decided to wait until Jacen was old enough to choose his own path to follow. When Ezra had returned home, Jacen was incredibly smitten and almost immediately declared his desire to become his father’s padawan’s padawan. Ezra was initially a little reluctant to teach Jacen, but found that between Jacen’s willingness and his desire to continue his own education they would start and see where they ended up. Jacen was a natural pilot and used the Force to execute incredibly precise maneuvers in his ship, The Haunt. He kept his Father’s lightsaber (which was found after the Empire’s departure from Lothal) on his belt. A quick glance from Hera and she caught Jacen twirling a wrench in his hands idly as he listened. He then yawned twice, which earned him a subtly nudged kick to his shin from Hera.
Chopper was the only core member of Phoenix Squadron absent. The now ancient C1 astromech droid was in for repairs again, getting another new mechanical arm. Hera took immaculate care of Chop, but he seemed to be aging in a fairly accelerated fashion now, with parts rusting or simply hard to find. He was Hera’s longtime companion and childhood friend, and she sometimes now thought of what life would be like in the future if at some point he could not be fixed. She continued to bring him with her whenever she could, her partner in crime until the end.
Ackbar concluded his brief with a concise statement. “Any questions or thoughts, Phoenix Squadron?” He stood at the front of the room, awaiting their responses.
Hera bit her lower lip and willed herself not to speak first. She was the leader of those sitting with her today, but wanted their input first before reaching any conclusions. This mission was risky and she had lost too much in war in the past to put her passion before the lives of others, particularly her family.
Thrawn’s eyes darted to hers briefly, trying to gauge her reaction before speaking himself. “The second option presented of infiltrating the First Order seems to be the most sound, from a personnel, resource, and safety perspective. I would consider however, this General Hux to be of potential use to our mission. His arrogance and leadership style has likely created some animosity amongst his fellow members of the First Order. This could potentially also be exploited, putting information of great importance within our grasp.”
Ezra spoke up, with a grin. “Not unlike the Empire previously,” Ezra quickly continued, “I agree with Thrawn. The second option seems to be the best way to get the information that we need without taking too many risks. We’ve done stuff like this before, we can do it again. Consider me in.”
“Me too,” added Sabine, who was also nodding her head. “I think any opportunity to bust some bucketheads and save the galaxy is a good one, but we have to be smart about how we do it. I’d suggest stealing a ship and a few stormtrooper outfits, just like the old days. These guys obviously didn’t learn from the Empire’s mistakes when it came to the Death Star, so why would they learn from how the Empire got fooled time and time again?”
“I’m still not sure why no one appreciates the history of why an planetary weapon of mass destruction is a horrible idea,” Thrawn said, looking a little frustrated as he ran his hand through his blue black hair, now peppered with the occasional silver strand. “This First Order must have higher leadership, some sort of higher resolve than we know at present to drive its ambitions so high.”
“Maybe we’ll get that answer during the mission,” Eli mused. “Or not, maybe we’ll just barely escape with our lives. There are how many stormtroopers now? Thousands? We’re exactly a team of seven rebels. I worry that the risks are too high. I think we need to try though, it sounds like so many worlds are at stake. Five planets already have fallen to the First Order’s rule within a month. I’ve seen what war can do, so I want to help, but I’ll support whatever General Syndulla thinks.”
All of the sudden, everyone’s attention was on Hera. Yellow eyes at the front of the room and blue, amber, brown, red and teal eyes around her focused and awaited on her response.
“We have always fought for what is right. Sacrificed our freedom such that others can have it. We’ve won, we’ve lost but we’ve never been passive, nor have we ever said no when we are needed. I vote for us to take on this mission to save the New Republic and to show the First Order we will not stand to be oppressed. We will take it down, just like the Empire before it.” Hera spoke, her voice clear and unwavering.
“Yeah, one more time for the Spectres to shine,” Sabine said, and touched Hera’s shoulder. “We’re with you, Hera,” Ezra added, “and the Force will be with us too.”
Hera saw Eli nodding and Thrawn’s sly grin across the table which told her they too felt the same. Hera felt a hand on her right shoulder and turned to see Jacen, smiling. “We’d follow you anywhere, Mom. All of us.”