Buckets: A Star Wars Story

15. Specialist

Time passed ever onward through a war we were fighting for what seemed like an eternity.

Thrawn had returned the fleet to Lothal. Something about finishing off the Rebels, per usual. I don't believe any of us were completely onboard the bandwagon that we were going to finish them all off right then and there. This problem ran deeper than most people within the Imperial sphere were willing to admit. Crushing the Rebellion was a pretty picture, but hardly one so easily realized.

Siqsa had returned late in a stolen shuttle, and he was livid. Venn had narrowly escaped once again, which meant that his long pined for revenge would be forced to wait while he was reassigned to "Krennic Detail" as we began calling it. It was thankless and, from what we heard via our channels, one of the most annoying assignments you could possibly have. Krennic went through aides like some Admirals went through XO's. Meaning he had new ones constantly, primarily from them requesting transfers. Every one of them that we met had the same set of complaints: he was lodged so far up his own ass that he couldn't see daylight, he was mildly obsessed with Galen Erso, and he had the biggest grudge against Grand Moff Tarkin that anyone had ever seen.

Director Dorne gave us our Special Forces designation as a parting gift. We were now at the beck and call of any Moff, Admiral, or General who believed we could be of any real assistance. This had its perks. While no one needed us, we were essentially grounded and on leave. We had several missions between returning and Thrawn moving the fleet again, most of them rooting out Rebel cells. Nothing too extravagant, so I won't spend too much time dwelling on it. As a matter of fact, filling you in on what happens between the battles may be important, because soon there won't be a lot of that in this tale. I didn't quite realize how quickly we were spiraling to the greatest conflict in my life.

All I knew was that we were nearing the climax. The Imperial Command was getting fidgety. Suddenly all of the Rebel cells were more important than they had been. They were no longer a thorn in our side. Now, they were a threat. At the time, no one was exactly sure what this change meant. All we knew is that suddenly Krennic was actually important again, Thrawn was mad about it, Tarkin was also more than a little upset he had to work with Krennic, and Siqsa went into his new role as the Director's protector kicking and screaming.

One of the only things keeping me sane post-Naboo amid the whirlwind of insanity that came along with the newly escalating positions of power within the Empire were the frequent talks I had with Vesanne. They were a taste of normalcy amid the quickly escalating chaos, and in those few hours we'd get there was a peace that I didn't get from anywhere else. I say "frequent", but it was more like a few times a month, but for me that was more than I got from anyone outside of my squad. We would talk about random things – how life was on Naboo, what I was doing, where I'd be going on leave, stories about our friends – and it felt so... so blissfully normal. When I was with her, it was like I forgot that there was a war going on for just a little while. I honestly didn't realize how much I needed that until she would holo me, and she'd sit in her room and I'd sit on my bed and we would just... talk.

It didn't take long for Aurek and the rest of the boys to figure out that there was someone I was talking to, and as soon as they found out that she was a woman, all bets were off.

"So... who is she?" Osk finally asked one day when I emerged from the fresher.

"Who's who?"

"That girl you talk to," he continued with a grin slowly coming to his face. "You always get all smiley when she holos. Who is she?"

"She's none of your business." My defensive reply there was my kriffing downfall.

"Ooh," Aurek looked up from polishing his dress boots and grinned wickedly, "is she your girlfriend, Dorn?"