Lyra Solo
"A mission?" Kelsa repeated Ersela Kryze's announcement, taking it in. "That sounds interesting." BB-11 rolled around in a circle beside her, beeping excitedly.
"What's the mission?" Kaia asked, and Lyra wondered if she was imagining the slight weariness she thought she heard in her friend's voice.
"We need to make sure the First Order doesn't try to interfere too much with Rey and the others' mission. There's already reports of their activity on Pasaana," Ersela informed them, her tone professional and direct. "It's your job to infiltrate a First Order Star Destroyer called the Steadfast in order to slow them down. I can tell you more at the briefing, which will be in a few minutes."
"We better get going then," Kelsa remarked. "Come on, BB-11." The little blue and white droid followed her loyally as they both left the cave, everyone else only a few steps behind them.
As always, the Resistance base on Ajan Kloss was bustling with activity, but Lyra was used to it by now. Living with her mother, she had grown up in an environment where everyone was busy and scrambling to get things done.
However, being chosen for a mission was causing her bit of stress. She preferred to stay away from the action, happy to be helping out from the safety of a planet light years away from the fighting. But now, she was going to be thrown right into the middle of it.
Up ahead, Kelsa stopped at a large holotable in the area that mission control was located, a small corner of relative calm nestled into the large clearing. Everyone else in the group fanned out around the table to listen attentively to Ersela, who had stepped out from the group to face them across the table, which glowed blue as it displayed a First Order Star Destroyer.
"This is the Steadfast," Ersela began. "It is one of the First Order's most important Star Destroyers, serving as their flagship.
"It will be your job to infiltrate the vessel and slow them down enough for Rey and her team to be able to achieve their objective by taking out the ship's reactor."
"If it's the First Order's flagship, it'll be pretty much impossible to sneak in without being detected," Kaia pointed out, her gaze focused on the image of the Steadfast with an intensity Lyra didn't entirely understand. She could see that her friend was taking the briefing very seriously, as they all should, but there was something in her eyes that suggested there was some other emotion she was keeping hidden.
"We have a plan for that," Ersela assured her. She pressed a button and the image of a First Order transporter appeared alongside the Steadfast, forcing the Star Destroyer to shrink as it was pushed to the top of the screen.
"We're going to use that?" Kelsa exclaimed, sounding disgusted. "Why can't we just use TIE fighters?"
"It would be a little suspicious to see a whole squadron of TIE fighters appear out nowhere," Ersela replied, having clearly considered Kelsa's argument. "This way you're on one ship, and it will make our entrance a bit more convincing."
"Makes sense to me," Cora remarked. "But how are we going to sneak around once we're on board?"
"We have several stolen officer uniforms and suits of stormtrooper armor," Ersela explained. "You'll fit right in."
"When do we leave?" Lyra asked, starting to feel a little anxious.
"Right now." Lyra turned around to see her mother, General Leia Organa, staring at the group with a weary but determined look in her eyes.
"General Organa," Kelsa muttered, straightening as she realized that they were in the presence of the leader of the Resistance.
Leia nodded in acknowledgement, and Kelsa relaxed, though only a little. "You must hurry," Leia told them. "We have to make sure Rey can complete her mission. It's vital to our survival." She turned to Ersela. "Be ready to leave as soon as possible."
"Of course," Ersela dipped her head. She turned to the others. "The transporter has already been prepped. Gather anything you think you might need, and then meet me there."
"Wait, you're coming too?" Lyra asked, shocked that such a high ranking officer would go on such a mission.
"Indeed I am," Ersela replied with a small smile. She glanced at Leia, whose gaze was warm as she looked over the group. "Now let's get going. There's no time to waste."
The others rushed off, but Lyra stayed behind to give her mother a hug, hoping it wouldn't be the last time they saw each other. She rested her chin on her mother's shoulder as they embraced, fighting back tears that had suddenly decided to blur her vision.
"I love you," she gasped, clutching her mother close, trying to hold on to the last few seconds she had before she had to focus on the mission.
"I love you too," Leia whispered into her ear, her voice full of affection. She released Lyra and grabbed her hands. "Now go with the others. They're going to need your help."
Lyra nodded, taking a few deep breaths, and hurried off to find the transport. She didn't need to bring anything; she always had her blaster with her, as a safety precaution.
She found everyone already waiting at the ramp of the transporter, besides Kaia, which Lyra thought was a little weird but didn't say anything.
"Where's Kaia?" she asked Cora, who was Kaia's closest friend, as she approached them.
"She said she needed to check on something before we left," Cora responded, sounding as though she were a bit suspicious of what exactly her friend was checking on.
"She better get here soon because we have to go," Kelsa remarked as they turned and walked up the ramp and inside the transport. Just then, Kaia came hurtling towards them. "I'm here guys!" she cried, a little out of breath. She stopped at the top of the ramp and paused to take a few breaths before stepping inside.
Ersela was already in the cockpit, and when she saw that everyone was inside, she closed the ramp and the blue-white lights inside the transporter flickered on.
"Everyone get in their disguises," Ersela instructed, opening a storage compartment near the cockpit and pulling out their stolen First Order outfits. "Cora, Lyra, and Kelsa will be stormtroopers. Kaia and I will be officers."
"I'm down," Cora muttered, accepting the heavy trooper armor Ersela handed her, while Kelsa made a disgruntled noise, but didn't say anything as she too received a suit and put it on.
Only Lyra was hesitant. She didn't want to wear the stormtrooper armor if she could avoid it. "Why can't I be an officer?"
"Because we don't want you to be recognized," Ersela explained, pressing the armor into her hands. "That's why Kelsa is disguising as one too."
"But I wasn't in the First Order like she was," Lyra argued. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kelsa flinch at the mention of her past, and she immediately regretted bringing it up. "Sorry. I just meant that I don't see why I can't be recognized."
"Well, you are Leia's daughter," Kaia pointed out, smoothing out the wrinkles in her uniform and sliding in the code cylinders to the pockets meant to hold them before pulling the gloves that all First Order officers wore over her hands. "And you're Kylo Ren's sister, so someone might know who you are. Especially Kylo Ren."
"Fair point," Lyra sighed, reluctantly starting to put on the armor as everyone else finished getting ready and sat down on the benches attached to the polished gray walls on either side of the transporter. Ersela and Kaia went into the cockpit, since it made the most sense to have the officers piloting the ship instead of the stormtroopers.
As they left the planet's atmosphere and prepared to make the jump to Pasaana, Lyra could see the first hints of anxiousness rippling through the group. While their mission didn't seem as big as Rey's, it was still very important, and if they failed, the consequences could mean the end of the Resistance.
Cora had her helmet resting on her legs, which were bouncing up and down rapidly, betraying her stress, though from her expression, she clearly wasn't trying to hide it. Kelsa seemed to be trying to distract herself as she secured her armor and dumped a dozen explosives into a First Order backpack so that what they were doing wouldn't be too obvious.
"We're approaching Pasaana," Ersela called after several minutes. "Exiting hyperspace now."
The transporter jolted as it left hyperspace, nearly sending Lyra tumbling off the bench. Cora made an odd squawking sound as she too nearly fell off her seat, and Kelsa, who had been smart enough to stand up and therefore hadn't been very affected, stared at Cora for a moment before shaking her head and turning her attention to the front of the transporter, which they would soon be let out of.
"Everyone get ready! We're approaching the Steadfast," Ersela warned. A few moments later, Kaia exited the cockpit and came to stand by Kelsa, gesturing for Cora and Lyra to do the same.
"We have to make this look convincing," she reminded them. "Ersela and I will come out first, then you three will follow behind us. Everyone got it?"
"Got it," they replied in unison. Lyra felt a wave of nervousness wash over her, and she took several deep breaths as she tried to calm herself down.
"Kaia, I need you back up here," Ersela's voice came from the cockpit.
Kaia sighed and then made her way back to the cockpit, leaving Lyra and the others to wait in anxious silence.
After a few long moments, Ersela announced, "They've given us clearance to land. Put your helmets on."
Lyra saw Cora and Kelsa exchange glances before they put their helmets over their heads. Apparently she wasn't the only one who was a bit unsure of how well this mission would go.
She put her helmet on just as she felt the ship set down. Kaia and Ersela came out of the cockpit a few moments later. Ersela stepped in front of everyone and pressed a button that opened the transporter, then she stepped back to stand beside Kaia as the ramp came down, both of them holding their hands behind their backs and standing up straighter, exactly like real First Order officers.
They started walking down the ramp, and Lyra, Kelsa, and Cora followed directly behind them. The deck officer holding a datapad in one hand approached them, flanked by two more stormtroopers.
"Identifications, please," the officer ordered, holding out her hand expectantly. Ersela and Kaia obediently handed her their code cylinders, keeping their expressions neutral as the deck officer inserted their cylinders individually into the datapad. After a few moments, the officer handed them back. "Everything checks out. Welcome aboard."
"Thank you," Ersela responded, her voice laced with an extra level of authority. She nodded to Kaia, and together they turned and started walking towards the door that opened to the hallway that led to the rest of the ship. Now the real challenge was about to begin.