Star Wars: Chasing Hope

Yavin 4

Hera Syndulla walked out into the humid air of Yavin 4. The sun was setting, creating a beautiful swirl of red and yellow in the sky above. In her opinion, this was one of the best bases that the Rebellion had. Not that they had a lot of options. Very few planets these days were secluded enough for a secret base. Yavin 4 was one of the few planets that was untouched and unnoticed by the Empire. A hidden gem, the jungle world was perfect for a base. The thick jungle provided excellent cover, keeping the ships and the facilities of the Alliance  relatively safe from detection. It also had its own temples, leftover from an ancient race that had inhabited the planet thousands of years ago, which provided a perfect headquarters for the Alliance and also meant that they could evacuate quickly if needed, although Hera hoped that would never have to happen. She still had the memories of the narrow escape from Grand Admiral Thrawn at the old Rebel base on Atollon.
She made her way across the landing field, sweeping her eyes over the array of ships stationed there. A-Wings, Y-Wings, U-Wings, and the relatively new X-Wings. Hera had flown all of these except the U-Wing, and thought the X-Wing the best of the bunch. Sporting shields, proton torpedoes, and quad laser cannons, the X-Wing may not be as fast as the A-Wing, but all of the previous features plus a socket for an astromech droid more than compensated for the loss in speed in her opinion.
Hera neared the end of the landing field and stopped. In front of her stood the Ghost, her pride and joy. Now this was the best ship of all the alliance. She smiled to herself. It probably helped that the pilot of this particular ship was one of the best there was.
"You know, out of all the pilots I've seen over the years, no one has looked at their ship the way you look at the Ghost."
Hera turned to see former Imperial Security Bureau agent Kallus walking towards her, accompanied by Commander Rex and Zeb Orrelios.
"Well, considering the pilots that you worked with I'm not terribly surprised. Not to mention that most of the ships of the Imperial fleet are designed to be expendable. The pilots probably didn't even get to name their ships." Hera replied with a smirk. "Besides, there's no ship in the Imperial fleet that's as good to look at as the Ghost. How did the briefing go? Did she agree to help us?"
"Resisted. Although she has agreed to help us in exchange for her freedom." Kallus replied. "She's not interested in the fight. Only saving her own skin and getting by. "
"Reminds me of a certain character we met from Lothal," Zeb said with a laugh, then, after realizing what he had said, he hung his head down. "Sorry," he said. "I'm still not used to him being gone."
"It's okay Zeb," Hera replied. "We're all still getting used to Ezra being gone. It's not just something that happens overnight. And anyways you're right. Ezra was only in it for himself when we first met him." Hera thought of the first time the boy had been on her ship. He had been so young then. A young boy with nobody in the galaxy, only himself to live for. Such a life had driven him to selfishness. Thankfully, time with Hera and the Ghost crew, along with Jedi training from Kanan, had taught the him about the value of fighting for others, of being truly selfless. Maybe too selfless, Hera thought sadly. She missed Ezra so much. She wished that things had worked out differently, that they had been able to find a way to stop Grand Admiral Thrawn without Ezra having to sacrifice himself. But he had, just as Kanan had, and as a result Lothal was free. Hera knew that she would have done the same thing in a heartbeat, especially for her home planet. "But he learned, and hopefully this Erso girl will learn as he did. What was her first name again? Jys?"
"Jyn." Kallus said. "Her and Cassian Andor are currently on Jedha trying to convince Saw Gerrera to hand over the Imperial pilot who defected."
"If he's even still alive." Rex scoffed. "Honestly I can't imagine why he would go to Saw and not us."
"Apparently Galen Erso sent him and he has a previous connection to Saw. They go way back I heard." Hera said. Still, she thought, even if this Galen Erso had connections with Saw if he had in any way kept up with current events it would have been a no brainer to send him to them. "I still wish Alliance high command would have sent us with her instead. The Ghost would have less chance of being detected than a U-Wing. Not to mention we've worked with Saw before."
"I think our history with Saw is the exact reason that we didn't go on the mission." Rex said with a laugh. "Anyways, you have your own little mission to worry about." Rex waved his hand, indicating Hera's now very swollen stomach. "Speaking of, how was the checkup? The little Rebel doing ok in there?"
"All fine and healthy," Hera replied. "He should be coming any day now, and boy will I be glad when that day comes." Hera was sick of being grounded to the base because of her pregnancy. She had had to miss the Jedha briefing because she had a checkup at the medical bay. She wanted to be back in the action, giving the Empire what they deserved.
They had walked and were now at the entrance to the command center, heading toward the central meeting room, were Mon Mothma and the other Alliance leaders assembled.
"Have you decided on a name yet? Garazeb Junior sounds good to me." Zeb said, smiling.
"I would think that after everything you have been through with your ship you would name him Ghost," said a new voice.
Hera turned around, and smiled at the woman standing in front of her. "Senator Mothma. Good to see you. Kanan and I actually talked a bit about a name if this ever were to happen, but we never got anything final nailed down. I haven't given it much thought, especially not after...you know."
"Yes," Senator Mothma said grimly. "One thing's for sure, Kanan would be extremely proud of you."
"Thank you Senator," Hera said. "I just with he were here to see it." The main reason Hera had even agreed to stay out of the action for so long was because she knew that was what Kanan would want her to do. She would give anything to have Kanan here right now.
"Speaking of Kanan, do you know if the baby is going to be, you know, like him, in...that way?" Kallus asked.
Hera knew what he meant. He wanted to know if the baby would grow up to be trained as a Jedi like Kanan and Ezra.  Personally, she both hoped and feared the answer to that question. "Well, the way Kanan explained it to me was like this: The possibility of the boy having a strong connection to the For—"
Hera did not get finish her sentence. Suddenly the command room exploded into chatter, a hundred mouths talking at once.
Senator Mothma turned to the nearest officer. "What's going on?"
He looked at her and Hera could see the terror in his eyes. Voice shaking, he said, "Report from Captain Andor. Jedha city has just been destroyed.