Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Five minutes after lights out, Zoe sat up in her bed and reached under her pillow, pulling out the data pad she’d stolen from the computer room. With a deep breath, she turned it on, squinting at the bright screen in the dark. There were no cameras in her little room, for which she was grateful, but even still her heart began to beat faster as she typed in her passcode.

If Control ever found out about this, she would be sent straight to re-conditioning. But then, she would hopefully be long gone by the time they found out.

She opened the security application and logged in to her superior officer’s account; she had watched him type in his password days before and remembered it perfectly. Instantly a series of boxes popped up on her screen. At first they were all black, full of little loading signals, but then they began to connect. Each tiny box showed an image of a room or hallway somewhere in the building. Some, like the loading bay and the bridge, were in full color, though most of the cameras were in simple black and white.

As she scrolled through the different images, she wondered how long it would take the rebels to get here.

Her superior officers had gotten word from their informant that a rebel cell was planning on infiltrating their base soon, and tonight the trap was going to be sprung. There were armed troopers waiting around the base in strategic points, and once the rebels were in position they would be deployed to capture them.

It was a good plan, all things considered. Really, it was. Except for one tiny little thing: the Empire hadn’t counted on Zoe Heriot wanting out.

She had never been happy with her job. Quite often she found herself wishing for a life outside of the Empire, a life outside of the drab gray walls and the overly-formal colleagues who didn’t even pretend to like her. Sure, they talked about order and prosperity, but she knew from the numbers that fascist regimes - because that’s what the Empire was - were not as prosperous as the Emperor would have everyone believe. People died, suffered and starved at rates that should’ve been unacceptable. Slaves and trafficked beings propped up the Empire with their labor, the secret behind most successes. People no longer had the freedom to think for themselves. Her superiors took children away from their parents and trained them to be machines, something that the Emperor always liked to criticize the Jedi for.

At least the Jedi had given those people a choice.

The Empire had taken everything terrible about the universe and multiplied it. Then they had the gall to act like they were helping the universe to thrive, when the numbers showed the exact opposite.

(It was the numbers that had turned Zoe into a rebel sympathizer. At first she’d tried to hide behind them, to detach herself from the work she was doing, but that hadn’t worked. While Zoe could lie to herself, the numbers always told the truth. And the truth told her that she was complicit.)

It was boring, though, waiting for the rebels to come. She almost nodded off a few times before catching herself, forcing herself to stay awake and watch for them on the cameras. The rebels didn’t know they were walking into a trap - they would need her to help them, even if they weren’t aware of it yet.

Finally, around midnight, she saw them. Two figures creeping up on the building from the southeast side: one in a large, oversized cloak that dragged on the ground behind them and another in a half-set of red and white Mandalorian armor. For a moment, Zoe couldn’t believe it. Were these the rebels? Surely there should be more of them.

But sure enough, they moved closer to the building until it was unmistakable: they were going to try and break in. Zoe was almost impressed by their bravery - or maybe she was astonished by their stupidity. Most people spent their lives trying to escape the Empire, not charging at it headfirst. And yet here these two were, risking their lives to do just that.

Unfortunately for the two rebels, if Zoe had been able to notice them, then so had the guards stationed on either side of the back door. Zoe saw one of them motion to the other and point out across the moor. Realizing the sound was off, she reached out to turn it on just as the Mandalorian shouted something unintelligible and charged straight at the guards.

For a moment the guards were so startled by such a seemingly foolish decision that they forgot to fire their blasters. Then, in a moment of clarity, one of them raised his and fired. The blaster bolts bounced right off the beskar, as Zoe had known it would, but it seemed that the storm troopers had not been taught what to expect when fighting a Mandalorian. Upon seeing their blasters fail, they faltered, giving the Mandalorian an opening. He launched himself at one of the troopers, punching him hard enough that his helmet bounced off the wall.

As he stumbled away, dazed, the other guard protectively raised his blaster on instinct, but the Mandalorian simply elbowed him in the chin. When that didn’t bring him down, another hit did.

He certainly seemed to live up to the stories of his people’s battle prowess. His cloaked companion, however, only moved forward after the battle had been fought, wringing his hands as he approached the doorway.

“Did you have to yell so loudly?” hissed the figure.

The Mandalorian scoffed and bent down over the unconscious form of one of the guards, slipping the key fob to the door out of his pocket. “If they didnae hear me yell, then they certainly heard the blaster fire,” he pointed out.

The hooded figure hummed, moving closer to the door as the Mandalorian swiped the key fob. When the door opened, he held his arm out in front of his companion’s chest, holding him back so that he could creep forward first.

Zoe switched to another camera, this one positioned just inside the back entrance. She could just see the top of the person’s hood as they poked their head inside, peering around until they finally deemed the room safe and walked inside.

The Mandalorian came through the doorway next. “Och, I dinnae ken why ye always insist on going first.” His thick accent was muffled by his helmet. “I’m the one with the sword.”

“Lightsaber, Jamie," the other corrected him absently, in the manner of someone who was used to doing so. He had a soft, low voice that was oddly soothing to listen to. “And because out of the two of us, I’m the Jedi.”

Zoe could hardly believe her ears. A Jedi? No wonder the Empire was keen to catch these rebels. A Jedi and a Mandalorian: nobody had seen such a pair in centuries.

“Aye, mibbe so,” said the Mandalorian. Jamie, the Jedi had called him. ‘But I’m the Mandalorian. You’re unarmed.”

The Jedi nodded. “Which is precisely why I should go first!” He was looking about the room now, squinting suspiciously as if he were searching for something. “You should always try the peaceful approach first.”

“Oh, aye,” Jamie agreed sarcastically. He looked back over his shoulder at the two guards he had just knocked out. “Peaceful.”

The Jedi scrunched up his face. “Now, Jamie,” he said, which caused the Mandalorian to stifle a laugh. “Let’s focus on the mission.”

Though Zoe didn’t know him personally, she had a feeling that Jamie was smiling under his helmet. “Alright.”

As the two of them moved down the hallway, Zoe followed them with the cameras. Each time they moved out of frame, she switched the camera on her screen to accommodate.

Looking at the other screens, she noticed that the troopers in the south wing of the base were on the move, which meant it was time for her to go as well.

Zoe jumped out of bed and grabbed her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. Picking up the data pad, she quickly pulled up the alarm system and closed one of the bulkhead doors right in the path of the approaching storm troopers, cutting them off from the rebels.

The camera feed, which was still in the corner of her screen, showed them tapping at the computer terminal in confusion, but yet again Zoe had logged into the alarm system using a superior officer’s information. Her actions overrode the instructions of a mere storm trooper, and so the squad was forced to find a detour.

Unfortunately, her power did have limits. She was unable to control the communications within the base, which meant that a few moments later she was hearing the squad captain radio for assistance. Someone else on the bridge would be able to override her commands, but at least she had bought the rebels some time; they had already moved away from the troopers toward the west wing of the building.

They were headed away from the hangar, though, and that wouldn’t do. Zoe pulled up the alarm system once more and with a few taps she closed another bulkhead door, this time one in the path of the rebels. It was far enough ahead that they didn’t notice it close, but once they turned the corner they noticed their path was blocked.

“Hm,” said the Jedi, tapping his finger against his mouth. “Interesting.”

As Zoe closed and opened different bulkhead doors, she also had to pay attention to the hallways around her as she walked. Currently they were almost entirely empty because of the plan to capture the rebels, but she was still incredibly nervous about being caught. She kept looking over her shoulder, terrified that she would turn around and see one of her superior officers staring down at her with disdain.

Thankfully, that didn’t happen. Somehow, Zoe managed to make it to the hangar unimpeded. She ducked out of sight just outside of the doorway, hiding in the hallway as she hunched over the data pad.

She almost gasped in shock as she noticed Jamie and the Jedi round a corner only to run smack into a company of troopers. Somehow they had snuck up on her as she was navigating the halls. Just as the troopers raised their blasters, Jamie jumped in front of the Jedi and ignited a blue lightsaber. Less than a second later she shut the door between the troopers and the rebels.

The action had certainly given away the fact that there was a traitor in the midst of the base, yet the rebels were safe. That was what was important, as they were her ticket out of here.

“That was a close one,” she heard Jamie say.

“Too close,” said the Jedi ominously. “I think… hm. There’s something going on here, Jamie. Something very strange indeed.”

“What do ye mean?”

“I’ll explain later,” he promised, then turned on his heel and started down the hallway at a brisk pace. “Now follow me.”

Now that she was able to focus, Zoe easily guided the Jedi and Jamie to the hangar. The Jedi seemed to understand that he was being led somewhere and followed along brilliantly, turning away immediately when he noticed a closed door and heading in the correct direction.

It didn’t take them long to get to the hangar. They arrived through a different entrance than Zoe, and when they entered they both paused, looking around.

“This isnae where we’re supposed ta be,” Jamie observed, confusion evident in his tone.

“Isn’t it?” asked the Jedi. He had definitely figured out someone was helping them along. Peering around the hangar, his eyes landed on a small, rusty looking ship. It was out of place in the Imperial base; it had been confiscated from a local group of smugglers last week and was waiting to be dismantled for parts. The Jedi’s face lit up when he saw it, and he grabbed the Mandalorian by the hand, leading him towards it.

“Hey, what are ye doing?” Jamie asked. “We’re going the wrong way!”

The Jedi simply shook his head under his hood. “Actually, I believe we are exactly where we should be.”

The Mandalorian jerked them to a stop stubbornly, ducking his head so that he could take in the Jedi’s expression. “...Is this one of your funny feelings?”

The Jedi sighed long-sufferingly. “I believe the Force is speaking to me, yes. And it wants us to go on that ship.”

Well, thought Zoe. If that was where they were going, then that was where she would be headed as well.

Jamie huffed. “Well why didn’t ye just say so?” He let go of the Jedi’s hand so that they could continue walking toward the ship.

Zoe quickly scurried into the hangar, ducking behind a stack of fuel tanks before pulling out the data pad once more and shutting all the doors that led into the hanger from the base. Then she moved along the wall until she was next to the computer terminal that controlled the hangar doors.

She quickly typed in her superior’s information, starting the sequence for opening the doors. She heard the soft click that denoted the beginning of the process and put the pad on the floor next to it; she wouldn’t be able to take it with her, just in case the Empire was able to track it. In fact, she worried a bit about them being able to track the ship, too, but that was a problem for after she escaped.

She waited until Jamie and the Jedi were safely in the ship before scurrying over and climbing up the gangway, tucking herself behind an outcropping in the wall. She could hear the two rebels moving about in the cockpit not that far away from her.

“-opened the hangar doors?” Jamie was asking, and Zoe felt herself blush even though they couldn’t see her.

“A friend, I believe,” said the Jedi.

“Do ye even ken how ta fly this thing?” Jamie continued nervously.

The Jedi insisted that, “I can fly anything," but that didn’t seem to calm the Mandalorian’s nerves.

“Sure ye can,” he said, voice a bit tighter than usual. “That’s why we crash so often in yer own ship.”

“The TARDIS has survived every one of those crashes!” the Jedi reminded him indignantly. “Really, Jamie, have a little faith.”

Zoe was beginning to wonder if she had put her eggs into the wrong basket, but it was far too late to back out now. The Jedi pressed all sorts of buttons on the control panel, closing the door and Zoe’s only way of escape. Well, she was in it now - there was no turning back at all.

Suddenly the sound of muffled blaster fire erupted from outside the ship. Loud sizzles of energy bounced off the hull of the ship as the storm troopers finally made their way into the hangar, having apparently gotten the doors open. Zoe had to keep herself from groaning out loud - she had hoped they would take a little longer on that.

Still, there wasn’t much they could do now that they were on the ship.

The engines turned on with a roar and Zoe covered her ears at the sudden sound. “Get ready for take off,” the Jedi warned, just barely audible over the noise, and Zoe imagined the Mandalorian buckling himself into the co-pilot’s seat.

“Doctor, the hangar doors are closing!” came a shout and out of curiosity Zoe popped her head around the corner. She could just see out the front window of the ship, and indeed the hangar doors were already closing. Blast it, she thought. She had been hoping for more time.

Still, the Jedi (who had now taken off his hood) seemed to know what he was doing. He quickly punched a series of buttons before yanking a lever, and suddenly the ship was lifting off the ground, wobbling unsteadily in the air.

“Woah,” said Jamie, vocalizing Zoe’s own thoughts.

“Hold on to something,” warned the Jedi, and Zoe instinctively grabbed onto a handle on the wall, clutching it tightly as the ship tilted back and forth before finally steadying out.

Then, seconds later, the Jedi punched the gas and the ship shot forward out of the hangar.

Zoe flew back into the wall. “Ouch!” she yelped, unable to keep herself quiet.

The Mandalorian whirled around in his seat and suddenly with a strange noise he was igniting his lightsaber once more. Zoe cowered back, wide-eyed, as he began to get up out of his seat. “Who-?” he started, but the Jedi stopped him.

“No, Jamie, sit down!” he ordered, and Jamie paused, looking between Zoe and his friend. Then the ship shuddered worryingly and he was forced to sit down as he toppled over with a loud thud. He quickly turned off his lightsaber as he fell to avoid damaging the ship or himself.

The Jedi cast a glance over his shoulder at Zoe, and she caught a glimpse of black hair and sharp, electric eyes. “I thought I told you to hold onto something.”

Zoe blinked at him in surprise; she had thought he’d been talking to Jamie. How long had he known she was here? “I did,” she said plainly.

“Never mind that,” Jamie exhaled, turning to the Jedi. “Doctor, can ye please explain why we went through all the trouble of breaking into an Imperial base only to leave without even trying ta find the thing we came for?” Then he pointed at Zoe with his lightsaber hilt. “And who’s that?”

“I think our young friend in the uniform here might be able to tell us the answer to both those questions,” said the Jedi, glancing at her imploringly over his shoulder. The ship shook ever so slightly and Jamie put a hand on the Jedi’s shoulder.

“Eyes on the sky please.” Jamie turned around in his seat, grabbing the back of it as he stared at Zoe through his helmet. Somehow, his gaze felt more intense than it would if she had been able to see his face, and it unnerved her a bit. “You, explain.”

Zoe swallowed hard, grabbing the wall for support and pulling herself up into a standing position. “It was a trap,” she told him, her voice only trembling slightly. “They knew you were coming.”

“Eh? But how?”

“There’s a rebel informant feeding information to the ISB,” Zoe said bluntly. There was no reason for her to lie; after all, she wanted these people’s help. Giving them information would make them more open to giving her that help.

For a long moment, neither rebel said anything. Then the Jedi cleared his throat and asked, “You don’t happen to know who it is, do you? We- oh, crumbs.” He pressed another few buttons and pulled up something on a screen that Zoe couldn’t see. “They’ve deployed their tie-fighters.”

Zoe’s stomach bottomed out as the Jedi swerved to the left to avoid a barrage of lasers. Unlike the stormtrooper’s blasters, the tie-fighters were actually something that could threaten the safety of the ship. “I only know their code name.”

Jamie sighed dramatically. “Well that’s just great. We’ve got a spy and we failed our mission.”

At this, Zoe perked up. “Actually, you haven’t. You came here for the ISB’s list of suspected rebel sympathizers, correct?”

For a split second Jamie tensed up, glancing over at the Jedi, but his partner only nodded encouragingly as he swerved the ship again, steepening their angle of ascent. Several lasers shot past the window. “...Aye,” he admitted somewhat reluctantly.

“Well I’ve seen the list. I remember every name on it, top to bottom.”

Jamie scoffed. “Well it can’t be a very long list, then.”

A flash of irritation surged up inside Zoe. “No you don’t get it! I have an eidetic memory- a perfect memory,” she corrected when the Mandalorian tilted his head in confusion. For someone who was wearing a helmet, he still managed to be pretty expressive. “I promise, there are dozens of names on that list. One hundred and seventeen, to be exact. And that’s just the first tier.”

“That’s- Och!” Jamie tumbled out of his seat as the ship lurched, alarms beginning to blare. Zoe, too, was thrown to the floor, and pain bloomed in her right shoulder as she collided with the metal. “We’re hit!”

“Oh, buckle in, won’t you!” cried the Jedi. “It’s only going to get worse from here.”

“What do ye mean worse?”

“I’m plotting a course for hyperspace!”

“But we’ve not even left the atmosphere yet!”

“I know!” exclaimed the Jedi. “That’s why I said it’s getting more dangerous!”

Zoe knew the statistics on hyperspace travel, which meant she knew what the Jedi was about to do was risky. “You can’t! We’ll run into something, surely!”

“The Force will guide me through,” the Jedi assured her serenely. “Now please, buckle yourself in.”

She didn’t know what good it would do to be buckled in if they collided with something in orbit, but she obeyed anyway. Pulling herself up again, Zoe hurried to the front of the ship and threw herself into the seat behind Jamie, buckling herself in with the arm that wasn’t currently throbbing.

Now that she could see the screens and buttons in the cockpit, she could also see just how quickly the Jedi was punching those buttons. “Jamie, the coordinates, if you please.”

With a long-suffering sigh, the Mandalorian began to type in the coordinates. “If we collide with something, I hope ye ken I told ye so.”

The Jedi just smiled knowingly. “Of course, dear.”

Another few seconds and Jamie was leaning back in his chair, clutching the armrests of his chair in anticipation. Zoe unconsciously mirrored his actions. “All set,” he said, and Zoe took a deep, anxious breath.

“Right then,” said the Jedi, his grin turning into something wild and excited. “Cross your fingers.”

Before either of his companions could protest, he pulled a lever and the world blurred around them.

Chapter Text

After several moments of silence, Zoe couldn’t help but notice that she wasn’t dead.

Upon opening her eyes (which she had closed in anticipation of a crash) she noticed with awe the blurred stars through the windshield of the spaceship, looking like a brilliant painting come to life. They were in hyperspace. They were actually in hyperspace, the Imperial base left behind in their dust.

Overwhelmed with emotion, she began to laugh. She could feel Jamie and the Jedi staring at her in confusion, maybe even concern, but she didn’t care. She was out. She had escaped. Finally, the Empire could no longer control her.

“Is she alright in the head, do ye think?” she heard Jamie ask, and the Jedi gave him a deep, disapproving frown.

“I imagine she’s experiencing quite a rush of emotions, right now,” he explained, sounding sympathetic.

After a moment, Zoe’s hysterical laughter softened into only slightly-crazed giggles, and the Jedi smiled patiently at her as she caught her breath. “Now, I think some introductions are in order, don’t you?”

Zoe wasn’t sure whether he was speaking to her or to Jamie, but she nodded anyway.

The Jedi’s smile softened and he looked over to Jamie. Putting a palm against his chest, he said, “I’m the Doctor and this is Jamie.”

Jamie reached up and removed his helmet, setting it on the dashboard before turning around to look at Zoe properly. He had a soft face, small blue eyes and a mop of brown hair that was similar to the Doctor’s own haircut. “Nice ta meet ye,” he said, though he still seemed a bit wary of her. She noticed he kept looking down at her chest, where her ISB credentials were pinned to her uniform. “I think.”

The Doctor swatted at Jamie’s shoulder before turning toward her again with a friendly smile. “What my partner means, is thank you for what you did back there.” He squinted at her carefully, scrutinizing her as if she were a very interesting wild animal. “I, ah, can assume that was you, wasn’t it?”

Zoe sighed a long sigh of relief. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, that was me. I’m Zoe, by the way.”

“Wait, what did she do?” Jamie asked. He seemed a bit slower on the uptake than the Doctor.

“The hangar doors, Jamie,” the Doctor reminded him. “She opened them. And I think she did a great deal of work inside the base, keeping those storm troopers away from us.”

Zoe looked down at her knees, feeling a bit bashful. “I did what I could.”

“Oh, aye,” Jamie said, finally realizing she was the reason they’d hardly run into anyone on their mission. “Well, thanks for that.”

Unsure how to respond, Zoe smiled awkwardly. “Er, you’re welcome.”

The Doctor stared at her curiously, opening his mouth to say something else, when suddenly an alarm began to blare and the ship shuddered concerningly.

Zoe jumped nearly a foot in the air at the sudden noise, but the Doctor and Jamie simply whirled around and began checking the readings on the dashboard.

“We’re out of fuel!” Jamie groaned, poking at one of the display screens. “I cannae believe we didnnae check if the ship had fuel!”

“We’re nearly out,” corrected the Doctor. He pulled a lever and Zoe’s body jerked as the ship exited hyperspace, the blur outside becoming stars once more. “We wasted quite a bit going into hyperspace, but…”

He pressed some buttons before grabbing the controls and manually turning the ship around. To their left, from just out of sight emerged a large, red planet that almost seemed to have a soft glow to it. Shadows swirled across the globe, looking like oceans or clouds that obscured the color of the planet’s surface. “We have just enough fuel to get to Umbara.”

Zoe’s heart sank. Umbara was occupied by the Empire - they were jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire with this one. “They’ll probably be looking for us,” she warned her new companions. Umbara was one of the closest planets to Onderon, the planet they had just left. Chances were that the Imperial forces would guess about the low fuel and send out alerts to nearby outposts, which there were quite a few of on Umbara.

“Well we don’t exactly have a choice where to land,” the Doctor stressed. He was already guiding the ship toward Umbara, and the closer they got Zoe felt her palms starting to sweat. “It’s either Umbara, or we drift dead in space.”

Jamie didn’t seem to like that idea. “Umbara it is, then,” he decided.

Zoe took a deep breath. Thankfully there were no star cruisers hovering above-planet, but that didn’t mean there weren’t Imperials monitoring the sky.

The Doctor began to punch in coordinates for a landing just as Zoe’s worst fears came true and the radio crackled to life with the staticky sounds of a voice.

“Attention, unidentified vessel. You are trespassing in Imperial space. Please turn around or identify yourselves immediately.”

The Doctor didn’t even flinch. He just kept tapping away at the dashboard, his fingers speeding up a bit as the urgency of the situation increased.

After a few moments with no answer, the officer tried again. “Attention, unidentified vessel. You are trespassing in Imperial space. Please turn around or identify yourselves immediately. If you do not acknowledge, we will be forced to intercept.”

Jamie huffed irritably, pressing the mute button on the comms. “Intercept this,” he snapped, which only caused Zoe’s nerves to skyrocket.

“No, wait,” she said quickly. They couldn’t just ignore the Imperials; they would respond by sending a pair of tie fighters to dispatch them. "Doctor, can you fly like you’re not in control?”

The Doctor blinked owlishly at her. “I beg your pardon?”

“Fly like you’re fighting for control of the ship,” Zoe told him.

The Doctor listened almost immediately, switching fully over to manual and then letting up on the gas. Her heart rabbiting away behind her ribcage, she stood up and leaned across Jamie, unmuting the comms.

“Hey!” Jamie protested, but Zoe swatted him away and turned on the microphone.

“-we will be forced to-”

Zoe cleared her throat. “Attention, this is officer Arihnda Pryce requesting immediate assistance. We’re experiencing a code 37.”

For a moment, nothing happened other than the Doctor tilting the ship dangerously on its side. Zoe’s heart shot into her throat, making it hard to swallow.

“Oficer Pryce, your vessel does not match the description provided of your ship. Please explain.”

Zoe bit her lip. There must be probes monitoring the space above the planet. She motioned for the Doctor to keep up his terrible flying, and the ship began to move toward the giant red sphere in a jerky fashion until they could no longer see the edges of it, only red and black taking up their view from the cockpit.

Her only hope was to distract them long enough to let them land. “Like, I said, 37. There’s no time to explain, but I have our clearance codes.” Zoe rattled off the numbers and letters that she remembered being associated with Arihnda Pryce. Technically, Arihnda was supposed to be on Coruscant for business, but she was hoping that these basic officers wouldn’t know about that.

“Officer Pryce, cease your flight path immediately and hold position,” demanded the officer. He didn’t seem to be buying it.

Unfortunately for him, Zoe wasn’t about to give in that easily. She’d already come this far; she was not about to be caught now. “Negative, sir,” she said, trying to make herself sound panicked. It wasn’t hard. “We’ve lost control of the vessel. She’s going down!”

The Doctor smartly rattled the ship and increased speed, steering them in a zig-zag toward the planet’s surface.

A screech of feedback came from the comm. “Going down?”

“And fast!” she exclaimed. The Doctor sped up even more, putting the ship into a barrel roll. Zoe was grateful she had buckled in, and was holding onto her seat with a white-knuckle grip.

“Hold on, we’re sending an escort,” came the reply, and then the comms cut out. Zoe hung her head - it was the best she could have hoped for, she guessed. She would have preferred for the clearance codes to have done their job, but she understood the officer’s actions. Failure in the Empire meant more than a slap on the wrist; it meant that you were disposable. The officers at this base were going to want to avoid letting anyone land unless they’d gone through the proper avenues.

Thankfully, they were already entering the atmosphere; there wouldn’t be much time, if any, for the escort to catch up to them before they landed. Gravity was already pulling them down, making them go faster and faster. For a terrifying moment Zoe wondered if the Doctor was going to pull up at all, but then he hit the reversers and their momentum slowed by a significant amount.

“Ohoho,” he laughed as the ship wobbled in protest. Zoe wasn’t entirely sure it was on purpose. “Very well done, Zoe.”

Zoe shook her head. “They didn’t buy it,” she bemoaned, and Jamie patted her on the shoulder comfortingly. The gesture startled her, as she wasn’t used to physical affection, and Jamie withdrew quickly when he noticed. She immediately missed the warmth from his palm.

“Sorry,” he said, sounding embarrassed. Zoe blushed a deep red, ashamed by her stunted social skills. “And anyway,” Jamie continued loudly, trying to move past the sudden awkwardness, “that escort willnae be a problem. I can deal with them once we’ve landed.”

That reminded Zoe of something she’d been wondering since she first laid eyes on the two of them. “Why just you? Why doesn’t the Doctor- woah!” The ship shuddered violently, snatching the question right out of Zoe’s mouth and turning it into a scream.

“Ah, sorry, just a bit of turbulence,” said the Doctor. “And look, our escort has arrived!”

He sounded far too excited about it considering their circumstances. There were now two tie fighters flying next to them, a bit too close for comfort if Zoe was being honest. She was half afraid that they would be able to see through the cockpit window and notice they weren’t who they claimed to be, but realistically she knew that wouldn’t be possible unless they were flying directly at each other.

The comms came to life once more, although this time
It was one of the tie pilots speaking. “Do you have control of your ship’s direction?”

The ship jerked and shook as Zoe fumbled to answer. “No!” She turned off the comms and turned to the Doctor. “Try to land in that forest down there,” she instructed him, pointing in front of them.

There was, indeed, a forest on the ground. Zoe could see cities in the distance, in the edges of the windshield, but right ahead was a vast swath of red trees, promising cover and protection.

“Alright, but you’ll want to sit back down for this,” the Doctor warned her.

She barely had time to buckle herself back in before the Doctor spun the ship, coming out of the roll at a steep angle. The forest was now a lot closer than it had been before; everything she saw was red.

The Doctor hit the reversers once more, slowing their momentum considerably. He was still valiantly attempting to fly the ship poorly, and the ship rocked back and forth as the trees grew closer, closer, closer. Zoe swore she could see the outline of each individual leaf.

“DOCTOR!” Jamie yelled, turning away and closing his eyes tight as if to ward off the incoming collision.

The Doctor pulled the nose up and the ship evened out, and then he hit the sideways thrusters. The ship only stayed in the air for a few more seconds before the scarlet trees below began to scrape against the hull.

Zoe braced herself for impact.

The ship collided with the ground, bounced, and then crashed again, cutting a clear path through the forest. A loud scraping noise filled the air and Zoe covered her ears. The entire ship was shaking, making her teeth rattle and giving her a headache. She was being thrown about in her seat; she heard a window crack. There was a loud screech, like the sound of metal tearing. She felt as if she were spinning around in circles. Her shoulder began to hurt again, jostled by the rough landing.

The crash was so disorienting that even after everything stopped moving, the world kept spinning around her. She was breathing hard, not from
exertion but from panic.

In front of her, Jamie groaned and reached for the Doctor, putting his gloved hand on his arm. “I’m never flying with ye again.”

The Doctor’s mouth dropped open, his eyebrows drawing together. “But Zoe told me to fly poorly.”

Breathlessly, Zoe said, “Well, you didn’t have to do such a good job.”

The Doctor was left sputtering. “Honestly!” he huffed. “You try and help.”

Zoe couldn’t help but laugh disbelievingly at the indignant expression on his face.

“We should get moving,” Jamie suggested. He bent over to reach for his helmet, which had fallen on the floor during the landing. “Our escort isnae that far behind us.”

Already Zoe could hear the buzz of the tie fighter’s engines as they closed in on the crash site. “Good idea,” said the Doctor. “We should try to avoid a fight if we can.”

Jamie put on his helmet as the Doctor pressed the ‘open door’ button, and the back of the ship opened with a hiss, folding down into a ramp for them to walk down. The Doctor and Jamie both got up and headed outside, Zoe close on their heels.

“It’s dark,” she observed, a bit nervously. She could see nothing beyond the little pool of light that spilled out from the back of the ship. The sound of the tie fighters engines was louder now, and when she looked up into the sky she could see their searchlights, like two pairs of droid eyes drawing nearer.

“It’ll provide good cover,” Jamie promised, but that wasn’t much comfort. If it would provide good cover for them, it would also provide good cover for whatever animals lived on this planet. And those animals were far better adapted to the dark than she was.

Not wanting to be left behind, she followed her new friends into the forest anyway. She watched as Jamie reached out for the Doctor’s hand, lacing their fingers together as the light dimmed. Zoe found herself wanting to do the same (just so she wouldn’t get lost in the dark, of course) but she kept her hands to herself.

“You can hold onto my robe, Zoe,” offered the Doctor, surprising her.

Her face grew warm at the thought of being read so easily. Still, she shuffled closer to the Doctor and grabbed his sleeve, bunching up the fabric in her tiny fist. “Thank you,” she muttered, her voice quiet and shaky.

Now sure that they wouldn’t lose each other in the dark, Jamie slowly led the way deeper into the forest. He must have night vision on his helmet, Zoe realized. There was no other way he would be able to guide them around trees and bushes with such precision.

He took them several meters past where the light stopped being able to reach them and then stopped just as the tie fighters touched down in the strip of flattened forest behind their stolen ship. The three of them instinctively crouched down behind a large bush, peeking their heads over to watch as the Imperial pilots left their ships and began to circle the larger, now empty ship.

In the light of the tie fighters searchlights, Zoe could see the state of the ship they’d just abandoned. The hull was scratched and dirty and tangled in red vines. The previously sharp nose was flattened, and the left wing was hanging on by a thread. It certainly wouldn’t be up in the air again any time soon, which meant that now the three of them were now effectively stranded on Umbara with no real plan to get to… wherever it was they were supposed to have gone. Stars, Zoe didn’t even know where that was. She’d just gotten on a ship with two strangers and hoped for the best, and now she was stranded on a planet of shadows with two men who might not even want her with them. What would happen to her if they decided she was more trouble than she was worth and left her behind? Would she be able to survive here all on her own?

Pulling her from her spiraling thoughts, Jamie whispered, “Well there goes that ship.”

The Doctor sniffed. “The TARDIS would have survived that landing, you know.”

Jamie gave the Doctor a deadpan stare that translated even through his helmet.

“What’s a TARDIS?” Zoe asked quietly.

The Doctor waited to answer until the troopers had gone inside their ship to search it. “It’s our ship,” he explained. “And our home.”

“Only it got left behind on Onderon,” Jamie said, looking away. Hesitantly, Zoe reached out and put a hand on his shoulder over his beskar. Jamie’s head snapped back in her direction, but he relaxed under the touch just like she thought he would.

“We’ll get it back,” the Doctor promised. “We just need to find a way off Umbara first.”

“To do that, we need to find a city,” Zoe pointed out. “Do either of you know which direction we’d need to go in to find one?” Her question was met with a cowed silence. “I thought so. We need to get back on that ship then and check the maps there.”

She was about to suggest they retreat further into the forest and wait for the troopers to leave, but Jamie was already creeping forward around the bushes. She watched his silhouette weave back and forth through the trees, crouching low, and then reach for something on his belt.

The two pilots made their way out of the ship and Jamie froze, then darted behind a tree. Some leaves rustled as he did so and one of the storm troopers looked up, clutching his blaster just a little tighter. “Who’s there?” he said, aiming his flashlight into the woods.

He swept it back and forth, but all three of them had ducked behind their respective hiding places. Not seeing anything, he lowered his blaster, but then the rustling came again. Jamie was doing it on purpose, trying to get their attention; he was luring them out into the dark.

“Stay here,” the first trooper told his partner. He crept toward the tree line, then past it, shining his flashlight and aiming his blaster ahead of him. Jamie stayed completely still, waiting patiently for the pilot to walk past him before igniting his lightsaber.

The trooper whirled around and Jamie cut his blaster in two, then jumped up and aimed a swift kick at his chest. His opponent was sent flying back into a tree, hitting his head on the sturdy trunk and collapsing.

“TN-96!” the other trooper called out in shock. He raised his blaster and began to shoot at Jamie, who used both his armor and the lightsaber to deflect the blasts. He walked right up to the poor fellow and kicked his feet out from under him, slicing the end of his blaster clean off. He bent down and slammed the pilot’s head against the ground for good measure, making sure he was out cold. Then he stood up and gestured for them to follow him and disappeared into the ship.

The Doctor stood up and Zoe scrambled to follow. As they walked closer to the patch of light, she looked over at his face to try and gauge his expression. “If you hate violence so much, why are you okay with Jamie knocking out storm troopers?”

“You know, that’s a very good question,” said the Doctor. “I suppose it’s because I don’t want to force him to adhere to my beliefs. And he does have quite a bone to pick with the Empire.”

That certainly piqued Zoe's interest, but she decided not to asked about that for now. Instead, she asked, “But why give him your lightsaber?” It was something that she had been wondering ever since she’d discovered he was a Jedi and Jamie wasn’t. She hoped it wasn’t too forward of her to ask.

It didn’t seem like it was, as the Doctor smiled at her gently. “Because I trust him,” he answered simply. “And I wanted him to have it.”

It still didn't make complete sense to her. Zoe remembered hearing during her ISB training that a lightsaber was considered a Jedi’s life. It was to be treated like an extension of themselves, and they had a mental connection with their lightsabers, one that they could feel in their very souls through the Force. It seemed like it should be a bigger deal for a Jedi to just give away his lightsaber to someone else, but the way the Doctor talked about it, he made it sound easy. As if to him, it simply made sense for Jamie to keep his lightsaber, because… oh.

Zoe recalled the fond looks and the hand holding in a suddenly different light. ‘My partner’, the Doctor had called Jamie. She had assumed he meant in a professional manner, but she could see now that he hadn’t. It wasn’t just trust that had made the Doctor give his lightsaber to the Mandalorian, but love. It was a love declaration, it had to be. It made sense; after all, what was love if not trust to the highest degree? The Doctor trusted Jamie, Doctor loved Jamie, and Jamie very likely trusted and loved the Doctor right back. It was probably why they were able to tease each other so without getting down about it - because they knew it was just that, teasing. Neither of them would ever expect the other to really mean the negative words.

She decided not to say anything about her revelation, just in case it was a sensitive subject. In the Empire, even friendly relationships were discouraged, so if she ever suspected a romantic entanglement between coworkers it had always been best to keep it to herself. She didn't know how the rebellion viewed relationships. Not to mention she also remembered learning that Jedi forbid attachments - she had a feeling the Doctor might not appreciate her bringing that up. She hardly knew these two people at all, and it wouldn’t do to go pushing her luck with them.

“That’s quite a lot of trust,” Zoe observed as casually as she could.

The Doctor just nodded, and Jamie finally emerged from inside the ship. He pointed in the direction opposite to the one they’d been flying. “The nearest city is that way, according ta the map.”

“Right,” said the Doctor. “How many miles?”

“Seven.”

Zoe shuddered. They’d have to walk through seven whole miles of dark, uninhabited forest before getting to anything resembling civilization.

“It’ll be alright,” Jamie tried to assure her. He brandished his lightsaber, pointing it bravely at the sky. “We’ve got the weapon of a Jedi.”

“Not to mention an actual Jedi,” added the Doctor. Zoe wasn’t sure how reassuring she found that, unless he could use the Force to ward off predators.

Still, she was grateful that they were trying to comfort her. “Thank you, but I’ll be fine.”

That didn’t mean she didn’t take the Doctor’s sleeve when he offered it to her - like she said earlier, it wouldn’t do to get separated in the dark.

“We better start walking now,” Jamie said, taking the Doctor’s hand once more and beginning to lead the way.

“Of course,” agreed the Doctor, allowing himself to be pulled along. Zoe trailed after the pair of them, still holding onto the Doctor’s sleeve, as they began to pick their way through the trees and shrubbery toward the nearest city.

She hoped that things would get easier from here on out.