Chapter Text
“Raven 2, come in, Raven 2?” Lenore was on the verge of throwing away her comlink. No contact. Either the Empire was jamming their signals, which was possible, or it was broken, again, which was definitely the reason.
“Hello?” Duke picked up his comm.
“Thank the heavens, are you in position?” she asked.
“Of course”
“Have the troopers already passed by on their patrol?”
“No.”
Lenore thought to herself for a moment before responding, “Huh, that's odd. Do you hear them coming?”
“Nope.”
“I don’t like that, Raven 2, Raven 4, I want you to get out of there,
now
.”
“But Eleonora, we’re already here, and I don’t like the idea of the way another failed mission would look on our crew report.” Berenice chimed in over her own comm.
“Fine, but at least let me ask Raven 3 if he detects anything. Eulalie?”
Eulalie glanced up briefly from a wrist link, “Already on it, Raven 3, have you noticed anything going on in another sector of this ship?”
“N-” Pluto began.
“Hold on a second,” Lenore took this brief moment to remind them of the
original
plan.
“I told you we should’ve had a distraction!”
Almost immediately, Duke responded, “C’mon, you and I both know those rarely work for us!”
“Would’ve worked for this mission.”
“Guys, Plut-” Eulalie tried to interject-
“Must I remind you this is a stealth mission?” Duke inquired
“No, you don’t, but even a few members back at base recommended we do something to deter the troopers!”
“Ele-”
“As much as I love distracting stormtroopers, I gotta agree with Duke here.” Berenice said.
“I’m just saying, if we had a distraction, we wouldn’t have to be worrying over where the troopers are right now!”
“Eleonora!” Eulalie raised her voice. “Pluto said he’s detecting the lifts in use.”
Fuck.
“Raven 4, Raven 2 I need you t-”
“Oh, that’s a
lot
of bucketheads.” Berenice muttered.
Back on the
Theo II
, now in hyperspace, a few sparks flying from some of the consoles, and as Duke put it- “slightly” bloodied up, saying they were okay would almost be an insult.
Lenore took a deep breath- “I told you–”
“Not my fault we got caught, I will hear none of it” Duke said, brushing her words away.
“I wasn’t going to blame you. I was going to say maybe having a distraction wouldn’t have been the worst idea in the world. This is the fourth time we’ve failed to retrieve this cargo, and we’re yet to try that idea.”
“
Mon amie
, please, having any sort of explosive on a relatively small ship is not a good idea. Not to mention, rebel intelligence didn’t inform us there was a light cruiser on the way.”
“So it’s rebel intelligence’s fault?” Lenore turned in her seat.
“Yes.”
“Definitely.” she agreed.
“100%.”
Lenore leaned back in the pilot's seat, slightly chuckling to herself. Even if the crew didn’t always work out as a crew, she was glad to call them her friends. Enjoying the warmth of the air, trying to pretend her ship wasn’t falling apart, Lenore allowed herself to close her eyes, hoping to sleep.
Buzz. Buzz.
Lenore’s comlink chimed.
“Hello?” Lenore said, blinking a few times to make sure she was fully awake.
Hi, this is Lady-in-White, is this Eleonora? The blue figure in the hologram spoke.
Lenore let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, “Ah, quite a relief to see you.”
And why is that, pet?
The lady in the comlink- the all-white gown, the large veil obscuring her face, resembling that of a bride- Lenore could’ve sworn she saw a slight smile underneath the costume.
“I really would hate to get a lecture from, pretty much anyone else, back at base. Not to mention it’s always a treat to get to talk to the lady herself.”
Aw, well I’m flattered-
“
Ahem,
” Duke interrupted. “Not-so-friendly reminder there are others in this room.”
“My most sincere apologies.” Lenore had responded, snark in her voice.
Did the mission go well? Assuming from well, the way you’ve presented yourself, I assume not?
“I’m afraid it went rather poorly.”
Did you atleast find out what they were carrying?
“I hate having to say this, but no to that as well.”
Ah, well, hopefully the Lieutenant won’t be too harsh.
“I hope so.” Lenore sighed, resting her head on her hand.
Any losses?
“Other than the crew’s collective sanity, we’re all
alive
, certainly.”
Can you make it back to base or need me to send someone to pick you up?
“We’re fine-” A spark shot up from the control panel. “For now, atleast”
Ah, well, that concludes this mission report, nice talking to you, pet.
“Nice talking to you as well.” Lenore couldn’t help but slightly flush as she finished her sentence.
Actually, I forgot, I’ve come into contact with a new medic looking for a crew. She’s quite a lovely girl, really, surely it would help you to have someone like her?
“Uh- a medic?”
Well, yes, pet, your crew seems quite prone to injury.
“I’m surprised no one else has picked her up yet, to be honest.”
Well, she doesn’t carry a weapon, so she doesn’t offer much in terms of combat.
“Well we can give her a gun, Berenice has a closet full of ‘em.”
She’s ex-ISB, pet, she refuses to carry a gun.
Morella sat alone, watching a meeting between a lieutenant and another crew on Yavin 4.
She had been out of ISB for a while- nearly 6 months now, yet still didn’t have a crew- or a ship to call her own.
She had been fine working as a medic on base, however it was certainly a lonely job- hardly any of the others on medical wanted anything to do with her.
She was glad to be here, glad to be part of the rebellion but she longed for friends to call her own. It was hard at first- trying to bond and trust others, especially after
her
, was surely a challenge, but she had found herself warming up to the planet.
But rather than stay on Yavin 4, after a meeting with the Lieutenant and the mysterious Lady-in-White, they confirmed they might have found a crew for her to join.
She found the idea interesting, hoping to finally make some friends-but she couldn’t help but find her hands slightly shaking, tapping her datapad against her leg. She tried to calm her nerves by checking the holonet- news about silly drama, rather than the empire for the change- but even so, she couldn’t help but feel the racing of her heartbeat.
She really need not worry- she was almost sure it would go fine, the crew needed a medic anyway- they wouldn’t turn her down, the Lieutenant had assured her- but she still only could focus on the tightness in her chest.
“Morella!” She heard a voice behind her.
Morella perked up, “Yes, Lieutenant?”
“The
Theo II
has entered the atmosphere, they should be landing within the next few minutes, I say now would be a good time for you to make your way to the landing pads.”
“Right away!”
Morella began walking towards the landing pads- which she had distanced herself from.
Surely enough, however, she began running towards the landing pads as she saw the VCX-100 light freighter land. Reciting their names to herself again, though she knew they’d likely introduce themselves- she didn’t want to mess up.
“I’m just saying, a little armor might help you in terms of, y’know, getting shot at.” A woman, dressed in mandalorian armor, her helmet shaped and painted to resemble that of large fangs hanging from her jaw, had said, stepping off the ship first with the rest of the crew.
“Well, I-” Duke began to respond-
“Hate to interrupt this conversation, but it seems we have a guest.” Lenore spoke, raising a hand in a “stop” motion.
As the crew's eyes shifted from each other to Morella, she felt her heart rate quicken.
C'mon, say something.
“Uh, hello, I’m Morella. I think Lady-in-White has told you about me?”
“Oh!” Lenore remarked, “Sorry for the mess, I thought we would meet in, well, a more formal setting, rather than, well,” she gestured to the crew and their disheveled selves.
“We were! I guess I was just a bit excited to meet you all.” Morella smiled, trying to keep herself at ease.
“Well, lovely meeting you, I’m Eleonora, or Raven 1.” Lenore held out her hand.
Morella shook it in return, silently grateful the crew seemed welcoming and relaxed, rather than being one of the more strict and uptight groups she had seen walking past.
“I ought to finish preparing your quarters, you’ll be bunking with me, if you’re okay with that?” Lenore said, bringing her hand back to rest at her side.
“Of course! I hope this works out fine for you all?”
“More than okay, actually, though I haven’t thought of it before, I suppose we were rather overdue for a medic. Welcome aboard, Raven 6.”
Morella couldn’t help but to grin at Lenore’s comment, turning to the rest of the crew who had already started to introduce themselves, whilst Lenore walked back onboard the ship.