Star Crossed

V

At the break of dawn on the moon of Endor, Han, Chewie, Leia, and Jo met the Rebel officers at the Shield generator. The Ewoks came prepared with sharpened spears and war cries, though C-3PO  had to tell them several times to keep the death calls to a whisper. 

They all stayed low to the ground as they looked over a ridge at the massive shield generator down below. In front of its doors were several Imperial guards keeping watch. 

Leia studied the installation of the shield generator. Jo and Han waited patiently as they watched the guards. 

"The main entrance to the control bunker's on the far side of that landing platform. This isn't gonna be easy." Leia told the two. Jo looked over at Leia with a raised brow.

"Hey, don't worry. Chewie and me got into a lot of places more heavily guarded than this." Han comforted her. Although it reminded Jo of his shady, smuggling past, it did ease her a bit to know that he was crafty- and sneaky- enough for this mission. 

She craned her neck as she heard several of the small Ewoks talking to C-3PO. Whatever they were saying, they seemed adamant to tell C-3PO as soon as possible. "What're they saying?" She asked the droid. C-3PO looked from the two excited Ewoks to Jo, Leia, and Han. 

"He says there's a secret entrance on the other side of the ridge." 

Jo raised an eyebrow as she looked down at the helpful Ewok. "Maybe they're more useful than we thought." She admitted with a shrug. "Let's go check it out." Jo pushed herself up to a crouch and followed the two Ewoks away from their hideout. When they were clear from the Imperial platform, she straightened up and rolled her tense shoulders back. 

"Have you... heard from Luke?" Leia whispered to Jo as the two walked side by side.

Jo stiffened at the mention of her ability to somehow telepathically talk to Luke. It was just another reminder that everything was different. Leia knew about it because she and Luke believed Jo had the force. "No." She told her tensely. "Wouldn't he try to contact you now?" She asked as she kept her eyes on the two small furries in front of them. 

"I don't know how any of it works. He said that you two have some sort of connection."

"What does he think that's from?" She couldn't stop herself from asking. "Honestly, I don't know what it is about us that makes me sense him so easily."

"He didn't understand it either. He thought maybe it was because you two were connected to the Force. Maybe all Jedi- or Jedi in training- can feel each other." Leia hypothesized. 

"I'm not a Jedi-" Jo's tone had a bite to it. "And I'm not a Jedi in training." She looked at Leia as she said it to make sure she understood. "I'm already the Princess's decoy. I can't be anything else." 

Leia sighed, but ultimately she gave a nod of understanding. 

Han stepped between Jo and Leia as he spotted the small back door to the Imperial bunker. "Back door, huh?" Unlike the other entrance, this one only had four guards in front of it. "Good idea." He looked from the door to the guards as Chewie gave a growl of appreciation for the Ewoks. "It's only a few guards. This shouldn't be too much trouble."

"Well, it only takes one to sound the alarm." Leia walked up to Han and looked up at him. Jo walked up to Han's other side with her arms crossed over her chest. 

Han gave Leia a very confident, cheeky grin as he said, "Then we'll do it real quiet-like."

"Like before?" Jo asked Han. He turned to look at her as his smirk faded. "We all remember how that worked out, right?" Jo craned around Han to look at Leia, then she turned her head to look back at Chewie, C-3PO, and R-2. They all nodded. "How about I take them out quietly?" Jo asked as she looked back at Han with her own confident smirk. "I won't mess it up."