part one | 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐝
━━ -ˋˏ★ˎˊ- ━━
. . .D'QAR, ILEENIUM SYSTEM
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐍 in front of her glowed a cold blue. Her eyes were beginning to burn, and words were starting to swim and swirl into an incoherent blob. Her only company was the solitude of a near-empty office. Brand new and shining clean, but very empty.
L'ulo L'ampar had said something to her three months ago that always replayed in her mind on nights like these. She had been promoted and the Duros man had chuckled and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, as was his way.
"Best of luck, Lyra. Don't count on sleeping for a while."
L'ulo was painfully correct. Everything came with a toll, nothing without something else.
Rubbing at her tired eyes, Lyra leaned back in the chair and took a deep breath. The reports were coming in from every angle, every system had something to say that might or might not be a lead. She had wanted this, fought for it, advocated for herself even when no one wanted to listen. And she had everything she wanted: a squadron.
Considering the events that unfolded during their latest mission, she was beginning to wonder if she was cut out for this job in the first place.
Her hand hovered over the file again. For the fourth time, she clicked on it and the contents spilled open onto the screen:
Mission to Hays Minor [Orwan Port] considered a success in achieving previously stated intelligence retrieval goal. However, cdr. Endellion failed to account for the possibility of capture, resulting in destruction of Resistance property [U-55 Loadlifter Theta].
No backup was called; all five squadron members presumed missing for 1.5 cycles until contact was made with D'Qar base. Still no backup requested, Phoenix Squadron returned to base at 0700. Stolen ships [3] will be repurposed in the Resistance Fleet.
The end result was good. Georgie and Ellis not only managed to find a way out, but they also hotwired enough ships that their intelligence retrieval came with some large souvenirs to bring back to base. But that one little word was enough to set Lyra back in her same, frustrated mood: failed.
It was no secret that the dirty work fell to them. Lyra was determined to find a new mission, something more substantial than these one-off kills and espionage assignments that inevitably ended in disaster. Getting stranded within the crystalline ore mines of Hays Minor was not happening ever again. But if they couldn't figure out how to pull it together and act like a team, their first three months as the Phoenix Squadron was about to come to a grinding halt.
They were unconventional, but that didn't mean Lyra had been anything less than intentional with who she picked. Aliyah Teron, a strategist who also happened to be a former pilot within the spice trade, was the only one of the group that Lyra had known personally. Eden Feng was a fresh-faced Resistance recruit who had immediately been assigned to the squadron upon her enlistment, and Georgios Bera and Ellis Melamed were close to being discharged from the Resistance before Lyra stepped in.
And they were all being lead by a former First Order assassin, so maybe there was good reason for the rumors.
It was a chance she had leapt at to lead a team like this. Resistance intelligence was largely concentrated off-world, and considering half of the New Republic Senate refused to back the Resistance, General Organa decided it was time that they directed their resources toward a concentrated intelligence network. The whole of it was now at the Phoenix Squadron's disposal, but the opportunity also came with the daunting task of working to maintain it. Five people was barely adequate, but it would have to suffice. More eyes would also mean more ears and more chances for sabotage.
Modeled after the system that Cassian Andor had once perfected, the Phoenix Squadron would function as an intelligence team tasked with espionage and reconnaissance. At the heart of it, it was a necessary evil. But that didn't stop the rumors from abounding; murder squad was Lyra's personal favorite jeer.
The door to the office slid open to reveal the face of one of Leia's strategists. "Commander Endellion, your presence has been requested in the command room."
"Of course," Lyra nodded. They turned to leave, and the door shut again.
The room around her was still largely empty. Eden had made some attempt at decorating with her heart-shaped magnets on the wall, but there was nothing else aside from boxes and a half-assembled holoprojector that Ellis was supposed to be working on.
Lyra walked out to find the command room in a quiet uproar. People were moving furtively back and forth. Ribbons of voices carrying worry and anticipation snaked up and through the air without cease.
And she was already behind. Her heart rate quickened as she walked down the staircase to central command, gut twisting at the thought of uncertainty. Was she supposed to know what was going on? Maybe locking herself away in a room to go through intelligence reports wasn't the best idea she had ever had.
Leia stood with Aliyah and a ground of strategists, one of whom was a well-trusted major. The major regarded Lyra with a skeptical side eye as she came around the table.
"Commander Endellion, good," Leia said. "We've received more information about the fuel tanker."
Lyra exhaled. This she knew about. "Yes, I was just looking through those reports myself."
The General nodded. "It gained more ground than we previously thought. The combination of First Order reports and visuals from Threepio's droid network must have given us enough information to cross reference with a map of the middle rim. Do you have any updates on the location?"
Lyra sucked in a breath. "Not yet," she said. The words she hated most to say, they showed her incompetence like a bad hand of sabacc cards.
"I have the location, we're just waiting on the diagnostics," Aliyah said, saving her in front of the group. The older girl sent her a short look of apology.
"Wonderful. Commander Endellion, you might consider speaking with your captain to make sure you're both on the same page," Leia said. The comment was lighthearted, but Lyra still felt the sting of disapproval.
"Of course, General."
She was supposed to be proving herself, proving that she deserved this rank. Not sitting in the command room aimless and without her usual purpose. For the last five and a half years, she had a goal. Working her way through the ranks, getting out of the command room and up in the air. This rut would be temporary; it had to be.
Prove them all wrong.
-ˋˏ★ˎˊ-
IN THREE days time, Hays Minor was becoming old news. Now, Lyra finally had enough time to keep up on other promises, one of which involved helping Eleni Dameron with a new droid.
While she was waiting for Eleni to get done with her shift outside, Lyra took the opportunity to get a head start. Their current task was refurbishing an old R6 astromech. The Phoenix Squadron still didn't have any astromechs to fly with, which Eleni saw as a problem easily solved. Easily solved had turned into a two-week-long project.
Moving back over to her tool cart, Lyra hooked up a new can of lime green paint to the airbrush. A new layer of color coated the metal pieces of the droid's body one by one. With any luck, the droid would be assembled and ready to use before the Phoenix Squadron was sent out on another mission.
There was an echoing whir from behind her. Before she could fully turn around, something slammed into the side of her leg. Hard.
Startled, Lyra accidentally jostled the cart. The can of green paint teetered and fell, and before she could catch it a large amount of the paint had already splattered onto the floor.
Lyra looked down at the culprit and the little droid immediately shrank back with embarrassment. She had never seen it before; it was a nice BB-unit with a domed head, round body colored silver and white with orange accents.
And, now, a nice green splatter of paint on its head.
"You have paint on you, here–" Lyra grabbed a clean rag off from her tool cart "–let me get that off."
Lyra brushed her short ponytail back and out of her face as she knelt in front of the droid. A few swipes of the cloth and the green paint no longer stained the droid's round body.
"Ah, Commander Endellion!"
Lyra winced, immediately recognizing the voice and the footsteps approaching from behind her. She began mentally preparing for the onslaught of what Major Finis was about to tell her.
"Any way you can get rid of him for me?" Lyra said quietly to the little droid.
It was a joke, but the BB-unit immediately extended its welding arm and lit the flame on the end of it with an excited chirp. A string of binary flew from his processor: Will this help?
Lyra widened her eyes and shook her head. "Not like that!"
She stood and whipped around to see Major Finis headed towards her, already looking extremely flustered. He was a burly man, brown skin weathered from his years of service. His hair was shot through with gray, not just from age but also from the sheer amount of stress he carried around with him.
Ellis had said something the other day that Lyra still hadn't stopped thinking about: "Major Finis? Oh, you mean Threepio in human form."
"Commander, I've been looking for you," he said as he came to a stop in front of her.
Lyra mustered a smile. "Hello Major Finis, how are you?"
He cleared his throat, swiping through the holo pad in his hands. "Not well, I'm sorry to say. Did you know I've had an exponential number of safety breaches this afternoon?"
"I did not," Lyra sighed, bored already.
Barely acting as if he heard her, he said, "Red Squadron is one of our largest groups of pilots, and just because they have a new commanding officer does not mean that they can suddenly forget all landing protocols."
"How dare they," Lyra nodded with false enthusiasm.
"I'm glad we are of the same mind," he told her gruffly. "I've been attempting to find their commander all afternoon to discuss this, but he appears to be very elusive. Have you seen him?"
The commanding officer had been a matter of discussion for weeks. Red Squad was a large group of pilots, and Leia had been saying she was considering making a recruitment attempt from a pool of New Republic officers that she believed to be fit for the job. She had recently pulled a handful of smaller squadrons from the Defense Fleet and deployed them to one of their remote cruisers, Echo of Hope. Apparently, among them was one of their new commanders.
Lyra hadn't realized that a formal decision had been reached.
"I'm not sure I was informed who the Red Squadron's new officer is," Lyra told him, biting back the nor do I care that was on the edge of her tongue. "Is that what you needed to talk to me about?"
Major Finis shook his head, licking his lips and refocusing on the holo pad. "No, thank you for reminding me. I came to discuss the matter of two of your pilots. Just last night I caught them on security footage dismantling part of the loudspeaker system on landing block alpha."
"For covert operatives, they aren't very covert," Lyra muttered.
"Pardon?
"Nothing, please continue."
"Right," he regarded her skeptically. "As I was saying, I checked this morning and there seems to be no visible damage or tampering, but this is not the first time they've attempted sabotage. Might I remind you that their disciplinary records are filled with issues."
"I understand that, Major," she told him.
"And you agreed to vouch for their behavior when they were reassigned to your command, so this is why I'm coming to you to discuss this incident," he continued to tell her. "I plan to also speak with Melamed and Bera to issue yet another warning.
While he spoke, Lyra was glancing around the room and looking for a distraction. Surprisingly, the little BB-unit was still rolling contentedly around her workspace.
Her saving grace came in the form of a group of pilots walking in through the large bay doors behind her. Upon noticing the Red Squadron insignia on their helmets, she whipped back around to Major Finis and said, "Didn't you just mention you were looking for the commanding officer of the Red Squadron?"
"I did, but I needed to speak with you–"
"I heard they're leaving again for another mission soon," Lyra lied. "This may be your best opportunity to speak with them."
"Interesting, yes, yes," Major Finis nodded. "Commander Dameron!" he called.
Lyra frowned. Dameron?
At the head of the group, the commander picked up his head of dark brown curls. The resemblance to Eleni was undeniable. She talked about her younger brother often, but Lyra hadn't realized Poe Dameron was going to be the one that Leia Organa hand-recruited from the New Republic Defense Fleet. It made sense; a golden pilot well on his way to stardom with an impressive record of successful missions.
Poe broke away from his pilots with a winning smile and a nod before making his way over to them. "Major Finis," he greeted. "What's going on?"
"I wanted to discuss your protocol with you. I don't know how the Defense Fleet handled their safety standards, but I can assure you that what I witnessed out on that runway was not up to Resistance standards," Finis shuddered at the audacity of it.
Dameron's smile faded. "Protocol?"
"There is a very specific way you should be exiting and entering the runway space so as to not cause incidents or collisions with any of the machinery."
"No one collided with anything, as far as I know," he said, confused.
The Major held up a finger. "But they could have," he said gruffly. "We aim to prevent incidents from happening rather than just reacting to them when they do, commander."
"That feels counter productive."
With very poor timing on his part, Ellis walked through the side doors to the hangar. He made eye contact with Lyra and lifted his hand to wave. She shook her head and moved her hand in a slicing motion over her throat, discreetly pointing at Major Finis. Too late, Ellis got the message and whipped around to leave.
Distracted by her behavior, Finis glanced over his shoulder. "Was that Ellis Melamed?"
"You're thinking of someone else," Lyra tried.
"It was, wasn't it," Major Finis said, and they all watched as Ellis tried to duck behind a crate and not be seen. "I'll have to speak with you both later," he told them over his shoulder.
"I'm sure you will," Lyra muttered, watching as he lumbered off.
Poe let out a sigh of relief. With a short laugh, he said, "I dunno if I can sit through another one of his speeches about safety."
"You'll get used to it," Lyra smiled. "He's very easy to distract."
He met her eyes and grinned in a lazy, slow way. "I'll have to keep that in mind."
The BB unit rolled back up to them, and Lyra had a sinking suspicion of who it belonged to. Sure enough, Poe said, "Buddy, I was wondering where you went. You can't just roll off like that."
He chirped. I was exploring.
"Is he yours?" Lyra asked.
"My pride and joy," Poe grinned. "And sometimes my biggest headache when he rolls off."
Don't flatter yourself, the droid whirred.
Lyra gave a short laugh.
Poe turned back to face her. "Oh, while you're here, I ran into some issues with my pitch and roll control pedals on our last run."
Lyra wrinkled her nose. "What?"
"Nothing too extreme," he assured her. "But they could at least use some degreaser and maybe a quick diagnostic check."
With a small laugh of disbelief, she said, "Excuse me?"
"You don't look like you're very busy right now."
Now she was outright laughing in his face. "Is that how you always ask for help, Commander?"
Confused, he asked, "Isn't it your job to help?"
"My job?" She put a hand on her chest. "No one on this base is assigned the job of dropping everything to help you."
He scoffed. Whatever retort was about to come out of his arrogant mouth was stifled by the BB-unit chirping loudly. Eleni was done with her shift.
"Hey Bee!" Eleni said, grinning down at the droid as she side-stepped the tool cart. "This is good, I'm glad you're finally meeting each other," she told to the two of them. To Lyra, she said, "And also good that you finished painting this. Maybe we'll have it done before your squadron leaves again."
"Shit, you're not a mechanic," Poe realized.
Lyra gave him a shit-eating grin and tilted her head to the side. "Not a mechanic."
Eleni glanced between them, dark eyes narrowed. "Am I missing something?"
"How was I supposed to know?" Poe said, gesturing at Lyra's old coveralls as if to prove a point. "You look like you just lost a fight with a can of paint, I just assumed you were a mechanic."
Lyra bit her inner cheek. "And when have assumptions ever been dangerous?"
Before things could further escalate, Eleni said, "Poe, this is Lyra. Clearly, you've already made a great first impression."
"Lyra?" he repeated, some semblance of recognition crossing over his face. The space between his brows creased. "You're Lyra? Like the commander?"
"Don't sound so surprised."
Bee took the opportunity to give his input, telling the story of how he had run into Lyra earlier and gotten green paint spilled on his head. He rolled back, looking very proud to have something to add to the conversation.
Poe rounded on her. Apparently, anything happening to his droid was all it took to push him to the edge. "You got paint on my droid?"
"It was barely anything–"
"Do you have any idea how hard that shit is to get off?"
"It took two seconds to wipe it off his head!" Lyra argued, exasperated. "And let's not forget that he ran into me–I know it was an accident," she said to reassure the droid. "It's not like I dumped a bucket of paint on him for fun."
"I wouldn't put it past you."
Lyra scoffed. "Excuse me?"
"This is not how I saw this going in my head," Eleni said to herself.
Poe folded his arms across his orange flight suit. "Clearly, you're careless."
"Clearly, you're too full of yourself to understand that it was an accident," Lyra told him. "Get your head out of your ass."
He straightened, taken aback with disbelief. Finally, he seemed to have no words left to say. Fresh off his time with the Defense Fleet, he was expecting the same golden-boy treatment he had received there.
"I need to go," Lyra said. "I just finished painting the metal for the outer body of the droid, Eleni. I can help you finish putting it together later." She turned to leave, but not before she glanced over her shoulder and said, "Good luck finding someone to fix your ship, Poe."
-ˋˏ★ˎˊ-
"A MISSION to Ikkrukk?"
Aliyah set her holo pad down on the table in front of them, sending up a tiny projection. She glanced at the pitiful thing. "Ellis really needs to get our holo table set up."
"He was supposed to have it done by now," Lyra frowned. "Anyway, yes, a mission to Ikkrukk. I already proposed it to the General, and if all else goes as planned, it's ours."
"You think?"
Lyra nodded. "We're the only ones who have been consistently working on this information, it would be strange if she sent anyone else."
"But what about the rest of them, Georgie and Ellis probably don't even know where Ikkrukk is," Aliyah groused.
"Give them a little credit," Lyra said gently.
There was a noise at the door and Aliyah turned in her chair to face it. A moment later, their newly installed keypad beeped and the form of Eden Feng appeared in the doorway.
The first time she met Eden, the dark haired girl was standing out on the runway nearly dwarfed by the flurry of activity around her. Deep brown eyes careful and calculating. For nearly a year, Eden had been fighting alone, taking up assignments with the ruinous Bounty Guild. At eighteen, she was barely old enough to enlist in the eyes of the New Republic.
But the Resistance had skirted that rule before. Exceptions were sometimes made for the sake of value.
"Sorry, I was talking to Connix," Eden apologized as she took a seat.
Aliyah began to explain again. "So what we're discussing is Ikkrukk–"
"–right, the mission," Eden nodded. "So you guys were thinking that she was going to assign one too?"
Aliyah gave an exasperated sigh. "Am I the only one who didn't assume this?"
Lyra shrugged. "I guess so."
"When will we know for sure?" Eden asked, adjusting herself in her chair.
Lyra paused, mulling it over. "I guess there's only one way to find out."
She walked out of the room with renewed purpose. The entire feeling was immediately deflated when she saw who was currently standing next to General Organa. Poe Dameron, no longer in his flight suit but wearing a brown leather jacket.
"General Organa," Lyra said, interrupting the lull in their conversation.
"Perfect timing," Leia said, unsurprised to see her. "Commander Endellion, have you met Commander Dameron?" Leia asked.
They both gave each other the same displeased smile. "I have," Lyra said.
"Excellent," Leia continued, thankfully not noticing the silent exchange between the two of them. "Now, I know you proposed your mission as a solo-squadron expedition, but I believe there's a better opportunity that exists here."
The color drained from Lyra's face. Considering Poe was a part of this conversation, there was really only one way this was about to go.
"Now, this is relatively new for both of you."
"I can handle it," Poe said to Leia, but the whole time he spoke he glared at Lyra in challenge. "Whatever it is, I can handle it."
Leia straightened, slightly taken aback. "I'd be careful what you get yourself into, Dameron. It might be wise to listen to what I have to say first."
Finally, he shrunk back. "Of course, General."
"Ikkrukk has been a point of interest of ours for the last month." With a wave of her hand, a strategist powered up the holoprojector. A swirling sphere of the planet appeared. "Specifically, we're looking at Grail City. Very recently a coup was enacted on their current prime minister, a man with known First Order affiliations."
Irritation burned. Ikkrukk was her chance, not some opportunity for some arrogant new Commander to get time in the spotlight.
"How much of a hand did the Resistance have in the initiation of the coup?" Lyra asked.
"A good question," Leia said. "The short answer would be too much. The operatives I have placed there quickly became too involved. Now, they're stranded."
"What's so special about Ikkrukk?" Poe asked, staring at the holo. "We have no known points of interest, Grail City doesn't really scream useful."
"Grail City is the tipping point of the political direction of the planet," Lyra groused, already sick of his arrogant commentary. She had this all planned out already, Poe was acting like he didn't know how to tie his own boots.
"Yes," Leia agreed. "The First Order certainly has more interest than we do. Ikkrukk is heavy with technological equipment and resources."
"They're all about their resources," Poe muttered. "That was one of the core targets of Rapier Squadron even if the New Republic wouldn't say it. We were catching gangs fifty percent of the time, but the other half was illegal First Order trade on Mirren sector lanes."
Lyra glanced to the side. The First Order was planning for something, or they were at least building their way towards some invisible goal. Threading reports together was like building a skeleton and hoping the body would fall into place on its own; they had no answer as to what, exactly the First Order was doing.
"And this is precisely why I'm deploying both of you to Ikkrukk," Leia said.
Lyra almost choked on her own spit. "Both of us?" At the same time, Poe said, "Is that really necessary?"
The General glanced between them, growing impatient with their apparent lack of agreement. "Yes. You both have a good grasp on the current situation, and I think your skill sets will be a nice compliment to each other. This mission is no small feat," she looked again to the projection. "I'll debrief both of you separately this afternoon. Dameron, you'll need to select six of your best pilots to accompany you."
He scoffed. "I barely know them enough to know who's best. I have to pick just six?"
"Use your judgment," Leia raised a brow. "I brought you here for a reason. You'll have more freedom than you did with the Defense Fleet, and that freedom comes with choices. You're dismissed, Dameron."
Poe shot Lyra one last look of cold reproach over his shoulder as he stalked off.
"I had hoped that you two would be able to get along," Leia told her. "You're both strong leaders, it would be good if you figure out a way to compromise."
She had barely known him for five minutes and already they were at odds. Compromise was also not something Lyra was well versed in. "We're getting along fine."
Leia almost laughed. "Interesting word. I do need to talk to you about what you're going to be undertaking," she told her. "In private. This information is very sensitive."
Wasn't everything? Lyra wanted to say, but she held her tongue. Even as she walked behind Leia towards the seclusion of the General's office, she felt the stares. One of the ensign strategists had the nerve to lean over to his partner and loudly whisper, kill squad alert.
Lyra bit down on her tongue so hard she tasted blood. Blood and vengeance, she would pull the First Order apart piece by piece until no one had anything left to say to her except thank you.
-ˋˏ★ˎˊ-
BACK IN their office, Georgie and Ellis were finally around to hear about the mission. Following Lyra's debrief, Ellis said, "Ikkrukk? What, are we going sledding?"
"Oh joy, I'll pack my mittens," Georgie quipped.
Ellis continued to stare into the projection. "It's like an ocean."
"An ocean?" Lyra repeated.
"Y'know, because it's all one color, just one big white ball–" he began to explain.
Lyra stared at him. "No, I understand the weak analogy."
Aliyah had not gotten used to Ellis and Georgie's humor over the past three months. Now, she was looking something murderous at their commentary. Cheeks almost as red as her hair, she said, "Can we please just focus? I think you'd find that we get so much more done when you stay quiet."
"But it's far more exciting when I don't," Georgie grinned.
Worried Aliyah was going to reach across the table and slap him across the face, Lyra stepped in. "That's enough. This is a joint mission with Red Squadron, which means it's going to be even more imperative that we act as a cohesive unit."
"Who's leading them?" Aliyah asked.
Involuntarily, her expression soured. "Poe Dameron."
"Oh, the new guy," Ellis said, rolling his eyes. He propped his feet up on the table. "He seems real fun."
Lyra let out a short laugh. "We'll just hope he knows what he's doing. It's a joint mission for the sake of numbers, but our individual goals are separate."
"So you've said," Georgie told her.
"Our target's name is Nomi Vondar," Lyra explained, and her picture flew up on the holo projection. "She's a native to the planet and a known Resistance sympathizer. She's the only remaining leader of the coup that disrupted the government."
"What happened to the other leaders?" Georgie asked.
"She killed them." Lyra said bluntly. "The rest of the insurgents believe it was the First Order, and they're partially correct. Nomi Vondar is the reason the First Order gained ground on Ikkrukk so quickly; she's acting as a double agent."
"Does Dameron have this information?" Aliyah asked.
"No, the General thought it would be better if his squadron was focused on the rescue portion of the mission. We have a list of the insurgents that are actually colluding with Nomi and the First Order, and our job is to get them out of the picture."
Ellis, boots propped up on the table, asked, "By what means?"
"The usual. Any means necessary."
"What happens when we get there and Dameron realizes we have separate missions?" Eden finally asked. Ellis jumped a little like he forgot she was sitting in the office with the four of them. "We haven't worked with other people like this before."
"Based on his attitude, I'd wager he'll barely notice," Lyra assured her. "We focus on our reactions, he can focus on Red Squadron's."
Eden nodded, satisfied. Lyra watched the nervous expression filter over her face, and she knew Eden had only asked the question to make it seem like she was participating. Lyra had been watching the girl for the duration of their meeting. She was still so apprehensive even after three months with the Resistance, but Lyra could never fault her for it. Still, when she did talk, her enthusiasm was infectious; Lyra only wished Eden felt comfortable to do it more.
"Any other questions?" Lyra said. Ellis's eyes lit up, but she continued before he spoke. "–good. We leave tomorrow morning at six hundred. Get some rest."
━━ -ˋˏ★ˎˊ- ━━
a/n oki I'll keep this short n sweet:
this was supposed to be a one-chapter kind of short story but I went overboard and decided to instead make it a ✨ cinematic experience ✨ instead. I'm so freaking excited to finally tell the story of Ikkrukk and in this part we already have a lot of fun things: Lyra and Eleni are painting/building Elgie, Poe meeting Lyra, the beginnings of the famous phoenix office, a small snippet of l'ulo content and a reference to hays minor which is one of the 5(?) times lyra gets stranded. The dynamics of the phoenix squadron are also something so so fun to play with because they've barely been established and everything is so! new! which is very different than the story goes in 'phoenix' six-ish years later. Here, Lyra is not as confident as a leader (and she's also 19 so lets cut her some slack), Eden is very nervous, Aliyah is still trying to figure out what the hell she got herself into, and Georgie and Ellis are still trying to perfect their chaos dynamic.
There are two parts to this story in total, the second of which will be published v soon.
a small disclaimer: Reeve Tailor and Jessika Pava have not joined the Resistance at this point!! Since this is six years before The Force Awakens, they're both still living their best college-girl-star-wars-version lives at hosnian prime flight academy :)
--nat <3